First Post!

Welcome to the AVEL West Blog. I hope this page can be a resource for the United Church of Canada community to share, interact, and discover sources of information for intellectual and spiritual growth.

While I'll be the primary poster on this blog, I hope to include guest postings from people across the United Church.

The movement toward an AVEL West blog stems from a need for our library to step into league with other libraries. Information is no longer physical - videos, books and other "physical" media will always exist, but there is a plethora of new information and new media available on the web. Libraries are on the cutting edge of technology. We are no longer fortresses of book shelves - we are facilitators of information and resources for eduacation, learning and interaction.

Here is just a few things to look forward to:

Resource reviews - At least bi-weekly, and hopefully more often, I intend to feature a new resource from the AVEL's collection. This may be a book, a film or video, or a website.

Digital media - You'll also find on this site links to various online publications that might be helpful for congregations, leaders, or spiritual seekers. This includes wedbinars, YouTube videos, PDF documents and other blogs and websites.

UCC News and Information - I'm happy to be working in an evironment that thrives in the life of the national and international community of the United Church of Canada. As things about the UCC cross my desk and inbox I'll be posting them here.

For starters, here are just a couple websites that I turn to regularly for information:

The Alban Institute is a main source of many of our Christian publications. In addition to publishing high-quality Christian resources books and videos, The Alban Institute provides digital resources and webinars.
The Christian Century is a long-running periodical with high-quality and diverse information. Most of the content is available online.
First Things, a personal favourite, is an more acdemic-style periodical. Perhaps more convsevatively minded than most United Church theology, First Things nevertheless provides a depth of intellectual imaginiation and rigour that few Christian resources can match.

Check back often for updates!