Association of Jewish Libraries
South Florida Chapter

Meeting Minutes - May 17, 2001

Minutes of May 17, 2001 meeting, St. Vincent de Paul Seminary, Boynton Beach

Present: Emilio G. Chavez, Kathleen Clotfelter, Muriel Efron, Heidi Estrin, Etta Gold, Annette Goldsmith, Sandy Gottesman, Phyllis Gutmann, Karen Heinich, Sylvia Henkus, Irene Hey, Andrea Kalish, Sue Kirshner, Elsie Leviton, Charles Meyers, Arthur Quinn, Marshall Schneider, Walter Spielman, Allyson Stone, Jonathan Stone, Lee Wixman, Marguerite Wolf, Shirley Wolfe

I. Greetings!

President Heidi Estrin thanked Art Quinn and his institution for hosting the meeting and offering us a splendid lunch catered by Rivka's of Delray Beach.

We welcomed Irene Hey, a reporter for The Florida Catholic Newspaper; and Karen Heinich of Florida Atlantic University, who gave us flyers for the FAU video, The Lost Wooden Synagogues of Eastern Europe ($29.95) and book, Women of the Book: Jewish Artists, Jewish Themes ($23.95).

II. Spanish Language Judaica Resources from Art Quinn

Art told us about the St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, the only bilingual seminary in the U.S. The new library opened its doors to staff and students in August 1996. He passed out information packages about the seminary and library, and took us through a display of some of the books listed in the bibliography he'd prepared for us. Since the library is organized by LC classification, the Judaica books are scattered through the collection, so Art's display made it possible for us to see a sampling of them in one place. To quote from Art's package, "The principal focus of collection development is in the area of graduate level theology and philosophy, in English and in Spanish, in all available media, which supports the primary mission of the seminary — the training of Roman Catholic priests in a bilingual/multicultural program and environment." We were all impressed by the collection and the beautiful building and grounds. Art led a tour of the library after the meeting; Lee invited members to his home to see his collection of hanukkiyot and menorahs.

III. Holocaust Library at Spanish River High School: special guests

J.J. Stone recounted how he and fellow Spanish River senior, Leslie Adler, raised awareness and money to set up the Spanish River Holocaust Research Center at their high school. (Leslie was unable to attend, but J.J.'s younger sister, Allyson, was there. Allyson will be continuing with the project when J.J. and Leslie leave for their respective colleges in the fall.) As juniors, J.J. and Leslie had in-depth projects on Holocaust topics but found their school library resources woefully inadequate. They contacted the Wiesenthal Center, the Holocaust Museum, and the American Jewish Committee. The AJC sent out a letter to their 14,000 members asking for $18 to help buy books. They also worked with their school librarian and FAU professor Alan Berger. Several of us brought extra copies of Holocaust books to donate to the cause. If you have any extra Holocaust-related books that you don’t need, you can donate them to the Holocaust Research Center at Spanish River High School at 5100 Jog Road, Boca Raton, FL 33496. If you would like to send a check, it should be payable to the Holocaust Research Center at Spanish River High School. Thanks to Lee Wixman and Art Quinn for arranging for our speakers.

IV. Swap and Share

Heidi asked for ideas on how to attract religious school students to her library, when they usually only come with their teachers. Some suggestions: