Can Dalrymple work here?

Peter Karman

I chose to focus on Dalrymple's section about John Damascene (From the Holy Mountain, chapter 5, pp. 298 - 302). John wrote his classic The Fount of Knowledge in a cramped cave cell, a far cry from some of the modern and luxurious libraries I visited as part of this assignment: St. Paul (Central downtown branch), CLIC (St. Catherine's), Ramsey County (Roseville branch) and the Wilson library at the University of Minnesota.

I expected that the academic libraries I visited would have more of the items on my bibliography than the public libraries would. I was surprised, however, by how sharp the divide was between the two library types. The academic libraries had all the relevant books listed in Dalrymple's bibliography; the public libraries had none. Furthermore, the public libraries were fairly skimpy in the subject categories overall, while the academic libraries were abundant.

This clear division makes some sense given the nature of my selection. Unlike most of the rest of Dalrymple's book, which deals equally with current events and ancient history, the section on John Damascene is wholly ancient and rather specialized. Despite my undergraduate education in church history, I had never even heard of John before reading this book (though that probably reflects more on the quality of my undergraduate education than it does John's relative anonymity). Still, it does not surprise me that the public libraries were short in the collection areas of Christian monasteries in Palestine, the Christian Fathers, and Early Christian Literature.

The broadest subject, Early Christian Literature, is a good example. Ramsey County has no subject heading for 'Early Christian Literature.' The more general 'Christian Literature' has less than 20 titles in all its various subcategories, excepting Prayer (51). In contrast, Wilson has 22 separate Early Christian Literature subcategories containing over 100 titles. (A more striking comparison might be made in the area of Contemporary Christian Music. Ramsey County claims nearly 300 titles, mostly audio recordings; Wilson has no audio, but does have 2 books on history and criticism.)

St Paul Public fared better than Ramsey County. Though none of the required books were available, the St Paul subject listings included 'Early Christian Literature' (13 titles), including 2 subcategories (Bibliography and History and Criticism). Of those 13 titles, at least one includes writings of John Damascene, though not the full Fount.... I was more impressed generally with St Paul's collections in this subject area than with Ramsey County's.

The CLIC libraries have a predictable wealth of subject material, bolstered by their religious histories and affiliations. The one book that Wilson did not have, I found at St. Thomas's Ireland Library. St. Catherine's library had only one of the books on my list, but CLIC had all but two. That seems reasonable to me, since of the chief reasons for having a consortium is to help diversify the holdings of the consortium as a whole.

I would recommend that anyone attempting a project in a related subject (early Church Fathers, early Muslim/Christian interaction, or iconoclasm, for example) stop first at the Wilson library. The university obviously offers wider collections (and deeper pockets) in these historical areas. Any of the CLIC libraries are a good second choice, since all their collections are available via interlibrary loan.

The public libraries, while beautiful and comfortable (Roseville even has a Dunn Bros coffee shop inside, while the downtown St Paul branch has Zelda's cafe), have collections biased toward current events, fiction and entertainment. The Roseville branch gives nearly equal floor space to study areas and computers as to book stacks.

It seems clear to me that Dalrymple could not have hoped to write From the Holy Mountain while sequestered in one of our local public libraries, though he might have been tempted toward gluttony from all the tasty goodies available. One of our local colleges or universities, while not endowed with convenient foodstuffs, would have been a safer bet. Besides, John only had a cave to write in. Any of our libraries bests that for comfort.