The Documentation of Christianity in Asia Consortium is a joint project between Yale University Divinity School Library; Payap University Archives; Hong Kong Baptist University; and the Centre for the Study of Christianity in Asia, Trinity Theological College, Singapore.

The member institutions of the Documentation of Christianity in Asia Consortium are committed to work collaboratively to improve the documentation of Christianity in Asia.

On October 5-6, 2005, a consultation was held at Trinity Theological College in Singapore with the support of the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia. The purpose of the consultation was to carry out a needs analysis to determine whether or not a program should be developed to improve the documentation of Christianity in Asia.

Those in attendance: Paul Stuehrenberg (Yale Divinity Library), Martha Smalley (Yale Divinity Library), Michael Poon (Trinity Theological College), Michael Mukunthan (Trinity Theological College), Irene Wong (Hong Kong Baptist University), William Yoder (McGilvary Divinity School, Payap University), Chayan Hiranpan (Payap University Archives).

In March 2006, we agreed to form a consortium to carry out the documentation program.

1 Collaborative Web Presence.

Establish Hong Kong Baptist University, Payap University, and Trinity Theological College as a consortium, with Yale Divinity Library as an interested partner. In order to facilitate their work, this consortium would establish a web presence, with each of the partner institutions providing access and links to resources for Christianity in their region. These might include, but not be restricted to, archival finding aids, library catalogs, digital resources (maps, photographs, selected texts), databases of theses, links to other institutions in the region, and other regional resources. Yale Divinity Library would prepare an umbrella site with links to the participating institutions.

This web presence would enable the consortium to collaborate electronically, while at the same time providing improved access to their resources to scholars around the world. Scholars would be able to use the consortial website as a portal through which they might identify resources documenting Christianity in Asia. The consortium would also investigate ways to provide electronic access to primary resources.

2 Collection Development.

    A. In collaboration with Yale Divinity Library, members would develop a survey instrument to facilitate the gathering of information from regional church bodies and other ecclesial organizations. The survey would seek to determine what these organizations publish and the state of their archives. Members would seek to collect published material on a continuing basis and would consult with the organizations about best practices for building and preserving their archival collections.

    B. Members would identify material "at risk" (books, periodicals, and archival collections) as candidates for a preservation microfilming program, with funding from the Kenneth Scott Latourette Initiative for the Documentation of World Christianity. http://www.library.yale.edu/div/latourette.html

    C. Using standard bibliographies, members would identify gaps in their holdings of monographs and periodicals, and seek to purchase copies, with having microfilm copies made as a last resort.

    D. Members would identify archival documentation of historical missionary activity in their regions, and purchase those that are commercially available; those that have not been microfilmed will be candidates for filming using funds from the Latourette Initiative. Identifying this documentation might require some travel to Europe and/or Australasia.

3 Building Bridges.

    A. Each of the member institutions would conduct a regional consultation to which theological colleges, seminaries, universities, and other institutions that collect the documentation of Asian Christianity would be invited. The purpose of the consultations would be to raise awareness of the need for collaboration and to lay the groundwork for collaborative relationships.

    B. Each of the member institutions would conduct one or more workshops for church leaders in their region to raise awareness of the need to collect archival resources and to teach the basics of archival management. One possible outcome of the workshops would be to encourage institutions to deposit their archives with an agency equipped to handle them.