The Work and Faith Collection includes more than 1,400 items – books, DVDs, and pamphlets – exploring topics such as Christian ethics in business and professional life, the theology of work, vocation and calling, faith and economics and business, and faith and the professions.
Pete Hammond, formerly vice-president-at-large for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, owned and assembled the core of the collection. After he donated it to the SPU Library in 2008, a fund for further development was endowed the following year to honor his and his wife, Shirley Hammond, and their service as champions for the ministry-in-daily-life movement. (Pete Hammond passed away in 2009; his wife in 2007.)
Today, collection development focuses on acquiring scholarly research and practically oriented materials to support the work of SPU’s School of Business, Government, and Economics, as well as the work of scholars interested in the intersection of work and faith. The collection has been built into course syllabi in the School of Business, Government, and Economics, and several faculty members from the school have used the collection for their own research. For the past two Spring Quarters, John Terrill, director of SPU’s Center for Integrity in Business, and Cindy Strong, librarian for education and business, co-taught a spirituality and business class that required students to interact with the collection.
The Work and Faith Collection is an exciting example of how generous donors and visionary friends can help a library build a distinctive collection to support the curricular and research goals of a university such as SPU.
Find out more about the Work and Faith Collection.