Library
Rev. Thomas G. Reid, Jr., Librarian: treid@rpts.edu
~ Click Here for the Library Catalog ~
The Library is primarily a workshop for professors and students. The quiet, well-lit reading and reference rooms and open stacks provide an atmosphere in which you may acquire the habits, techniques, and information that you will need in ministry.
Carefully selected materials in Old and New Testaments, in systematic and historical theology, and in the practical fields of the Church's service are included among thecurrently received. Printed and online indexes and bibliographies provide information about the wider field of theological literature. The Library's supply the text of a large proportion of the articles cited in our periodical indexes. With the recent addition of the Library Annex in the Willson Center, the ever-growing collection of the various volumes has additional space to expand.
Online Library
A computerized catalog, which you also can browse from anywhere you have internet service through the Seminary's website, offers many options for searching and/or printing the results of a search. The Library's online resources are mounted in computer terminals in the first floor of the Library Wing and in the Biblical Studies library section on the second level (seen left) of the Seminary building. Staff are available weekdays to assist you between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Library cataloging and interlibrary loans are done through OCLC Inc., a library utility which serves more than 50,000 libraries worldwide. Computer searching of online databases related to the curriculum can be done through OCLC's FirstSearch.
Rare Books Room
The Rare Books Room (pictured right) on the second floor houses a significant collection of theological books from the early sixteenth to the early nineteenth centuries. The nearby Reformed Presbyterian Room provides a unique collection of periodicals, minutes, and archival materials on the Covenanter Churches around the world. It offers many volumes of RP Minutes of Synod, the Reformed Presbyterian, and the Reformed Presbyterian Covenanter online in PDF format as well at www.rparchives.org.
Seminary students are offered additional opportunities for research and study in the extensive library collections at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, the Carnegie Public Library of Pittsburgh, the University of Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University - all which are in close driving distance to RPTS.
Computer Lab and Services
RPTS maintains a lab that houses eight computers equipped with a scanner and laser printers. Online library resources also are available through the Center's computers.
In addition, the Seminary offers for students who use their laptop computers. Ask the office for user and pass-code information.
Free Online Books
There are several textbooks that RPTS uses that have been made available online for free. The books in this list are either out of print, hard to find, or simply conveniently available electronically. In order for the professors to continue using out-of-print books in their courses, the Seminary has included links to the digital PDF versions below:
Messiah the Prince: Or, The Mediatorial Dominion of Jesus Christ by William Symington
Doctrine of Justification by James Buchanan
Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation by Kenneth Gentry
The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation by David Chilton
A Sermon on Civil Government by James Willson
A Body of Divinity by Thomas Watson
A Treatise of the Covenant of Grace by John Ball
