Archives

Ellen Kastel talked about the archival collections at JTS and the challenges of making them accessible. She has been trying to make the archives at JTS and the collections of the Ratner Center for Conservative Judaism available through the same searches.

JTS has Google search on their homepage - it searches all sections of their website. This searching also improves their standing in the Google listing.

The Solomon Schechter collection has been microfilmed. The finding aid database is available on the web and is searchable.

Joel Kushner talked about the establishment of an Initiative at HUC to train Rabbinic students and other Jewish professionals about homophobia and working with LGBT issues. HUC received a grant to set up and online resource center. They looked at other library and resource center sites and found that many were not visually appealing and that they just listed their content - not annotated it. They also wanted their site to be interactive and to have a strong educational component.