The Church and Synagogue Library Association (CSLA) was founded in 1967, with a goal of providing the opportunity for church and synagogue librarians to help each other in the establishment and maintenance of congregational libraries. The national organization disbanded in 2017, due to lack of membership. Local chapters either disbanded or continued as independent organizations.
CSLA created a network of about 40 chapters and affiliate members intended to provide ongoing service and fellowship in regional areas. In addition, CSLA had a national annual conference which held in different cities each year. The CSLA published a bimonthly bulletin, CSLA, books, guides to congregational library practice, media reviews, bibliographies and contributed articles on all aspects of organizing and operating effective libraries to other publications.
One of its founders was Joyce L. White (1927-2013). White was born June 7, 1927, and she received degrees from both the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University Library School in Philadelphia, and the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas.
White was librarian of M.H. Penniman Memorial Library at the University of Pennsylvania for 25 years, and in later life was librarian at the Christ Cathedral Church Library in Salinas, Kansas. She also directed the establishment of the library at the Wessendorff Ranch Religious Conference and Retreat Center in Blanco County, Texas.
Her work with congregational libraries started in the early 1960s when she saw the need for an association focused directly on church and synagogue special libraries. Twelve librarians, including White, met in Pennsylvania in 1967 and founded the Church and Synagogue Library Association (CSLA).
White served in various capacities on the CSLA board. She served as third president of CSLA, from 1968-1969, during which time membership grew to three hundred members. For the period 1970-1973, she served as executive secretary.
White was director of the Drexel sponsored Annual Workshops for Church Librarians from 1962-1967, and was Program Chairman for the Association’s first Annual conference in 1968. She directed the second Annual Conference, which was held in Washington, D.C. She frequently led workshops on various phases of congregational librarianship. She was the Local Arrangement Chairman for CSLA’s annual conference in Philadelphia in 1976.
White held the office of the Directory Committee Chairman, and directed the compiling of a church library directory in the United States and was joint compiler of CSLA’s bibliography, Know Your Neighbor’s faith: An Ecumenical Reading List. Additionally, she published CSLA guides and articles in a number of periodicals including Catholic Library World, American Libraries and Drexel Library Quarterly, as well as being a guest editor of a special issue of the Drexel Library Quarterly devoted to Church and Synagogue Libraries. White was also the author of the entry for church libraries that appeared in the encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. She was part of several research projects on congregational libraries
White founded the Delaware Valley Chapter of CSLA, and served as Chapter President for 1975-76; she was the assistant director of the Archives Project of the Leadership Conference of Women religious. In later life, she was also a founding member of the CSLA’s Mile High chapter.
After retirement, she continued to serve as both an academic and a local church librarian and to promote CSLA. She died on May 10, 2013, at the age of 84.
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