A number of opportunities are available for students, volunteers, and donors to participate in the work of Special Collections. You may participate through student employment, our Volunteer Program, or through the donation of materials. These opportunities are summarized below. For further information please contact Clifford Anderson.

Student Employment: Seminary students are employed in Special Collections to help staff the department during the year. Student positions vary with current needs, but may include such duties as maintaining the stacks and reading rooms, copy-cataloging and computer work, conservation work (making book boxes for rare books, etc.), and research and administrative work. Inquiries are welcome throughout the year; applications are accepted typically in September and early October for the academic year and in April and early May for the summer months.

Volunteer Program: Special Collections welcomes a limited number of volunteers who work on a regular schedule, normally from 2 to 10 hours per week. Volunteer duties are based on the background, skills, and interests of the individual volunteer. Volunteers have helped with collection sorting and processing, word processing and filing, and have assisted the public. 

Donations of papers and other materials: The holdings of Special Collections have grown through the accumulated donations of faculty, alumni/ae, and friends of the Seminary. Special Collections continues to welcome gifts in order to strengthen its collections. Donating materials to Special Collections is a process that can best be accomplished by ensuring that materials offered to Special Collections represent a good match with the needs of the institution. Special Collections normally welcomes papers of current and former faculty, 19th and early 20th century student lecture notes and notebooks, class and student photographs, and typed or published memoirs or reminiscences related to the Seminary and campus life. Special Collections also receives books, including publications related to the history of the Seminary and American Presbyterianism, early American imprints, pre-1800 Bibles, publications related to Presbyterianism in Korea up to the Korean War, and publications by or about Karl Barth and Abraham Kuyper. For the process to be followed for donating materials to Special Collections, see How to Donate Materials to Special Collections.