[Click on images for a larger view.]

The Ecumenical Library, located on the 9th floor of The Interchurch Center, serves the bibliographic needs of the Center's diverse tenancy. The Library's primary clientele are the staff members of the tenant agencies of the Interchurch Center. Students and faculty of Columbia University, Union Theological Seminary, New York Theological Seminary and Jewish Theological Seminary have borrowing privileges. The Library also loans books, through formal interlibrary loan procedures, to patrons of other libraries. Researchers unaffiliated with tenant organizations, who have legitimate need of the Library's specialized resources, are welcome by appointment. Please call 212-870-3804 or email tdelduca@interchurch-center.org for an appointment.

The Library holds 15,500 monographic titles and receives 100 periodicals. The collection descends from two older libraries: the United Missions Library, itself a merger of the United Presbyterian Missions Library and the Methodist Board of Missions Library, and the National Council of Churches Research Library. The United Missions Library and the National Council of Churches Research Library merged in 1978, and took the name, Ecumenical Library. The combined collections showed strong holdings in mission theory and history, area studies, social science research, and the history of ecumenism.

Since 1978, the collection policy of the Library has shifted to reflect the changing needs of the Center's tenants. The Library continues to purchase books and periodicals in Protestant history and thought, biblical studies, preaching, missiology, liturgy, ecumenism, and spirituality. But the centering idea of the collection occurs where these religious topics intersect with the broader fields of ethics and public life. The Library selectively acquires books on health issues, ethnicity, education, politics, fund-raising, non-profit management, the arts, and aspects of life in New York City. The library also has a small audio collection of fiction and non-fiction titles to enliven the commutes of the tenants.

The Library is a member of the American Theological Library Association (ATLA), the New York Theological Library Association (NYATLA) and the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO).

Phone number: 212-870-3804
Email: tdelduca@interchurch-center.org
Mailing address: Ecumenical Library
The Interchurch Center
475 Riverside Drive, Room 900
New York NY 10115