On Donkeys and E-books

To begin with, a confession: although I can often take you directly to a commentary on Mark or a Bible dictionary, I do not, in fact, know every single book we have in our collections. So, for example if you had asked me if we have a book devoted to donkeys in the Bible, I probably would have said something along the lines of “umm, I don’t think so, but I can look.” I might have even bet you $5 that we do not. I would have lost that bet:

 As the description observes, this book “stands alone in providing a comprehensive examination of donkeys in ancient Near Eastern texts, the archaeological record, and the Hebrew Bible.” So my assumption was not unreasonable, just wrong.

Now, you might be thinking: “What does this have to do with library construction updates?” No, we are not going to be employing donkeys as a green, and biblical, alternative to diesel-powered construction equipment. We are, however, going to have limited space in the racquetball court while the library is being renovated/constructed, which means only a portion of our collection will be available during this time, which means we will have to be selective in the books we are able to make available. If this were a print book, I doubt it would make the cut (as interesting as it looks). However, because this is an e-book, and thus unaffected by restricted physical shelf space, you can rest assured that if you are writing an exegesis paper on Numbers 22, or Judges 15, or Matthew 21, or any of the 68 verses in which donkeys make an appearance (at least that’s what Accordance tells me) this book will be available for your use.

On a related note, if there are any print books that you use regularly and want to ensure that they are numbered among the elect, please let us know in person, or E-mail us at libraryiq@austinseminary.edu or call the Circulation Desk at 512-404-4879.