The Center on Religion and Democracy Library, sponsored by the Center on Religion and Democracy at the University of Virginia, provides links a variety of electronic texts and a journal. The library contains four sub‐divisions. Social Theory contains texts from a variety of authors ranging from Bacon to Plato and to Thoreau. The writings of University of Virginia sociology professor Jeffrey Hadden are also included due to his involvement with the Center. Historical Texts include primary source documents recounting social change and documents of the founding fathers of the USA including the collected works of George Washington. Religious Texts contains the King James Version and Revised Standard Version Bible, the Book of Mormon, Koran, and selected writings of Augustine, Calvin, Jefferson, and others. Legal Documents, the last sub‐division, organizes documents related to religious freedom and religion and society by country. A link to world constitutions is also available. Each text is available in HTML; some also may be downloaded in E‐book or Palm format. Each text was selected for inclusion due to its relevance to a dialogue on the role of religion in democracy. In addition, the table of contents for each issue of the quarterly journal, The Hedgehog Review: Critical Reflections on Contemporary Culture, may be viewed. Selected issues are also available in web version.
The texts in the Center on Religion and Democracy Library may be accessed in several different manners. All texts may be browsed by selecting a specific section of the library as listed above. Several additional search and browse options are also available. Each search type only allows the proximity operator Near. Library Search searches all the documents and may be limited by source type, author, title, or date range. Constitutions Search may be limited to a specific section of all constitutions, such as intellectual property or freedom of belief, or to a specific country's constitution. Journals Search covers The Hedgehog Review and may be limited to a specific article title or author. Search Site allows general searches of the entire site but does not search at the document level. Browse by Author is also available.
This site loads quickly over all types of connections as it contains minimal graphics. The navigation structure is intuitive. Links to the main library sections are followed by links to various search options. A description of the library and the sub‐divisions are also included. Beneath the main library, links are available to several additional resources including the Salem Witchcraft Trials Archives (http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft) (RR 2006/170), the Concise Dictionary of Religion (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/DictHist/dict.html) and the Dictionary of the History of Ideas (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/relig.hadden) as electronic texts. At the bottom of the site are links to additional electronic texts limited to University of Virginia patrons.
This site is a useful tool in the search arsenal of reference and social science librarians. Most of the included texts are accessible from multiple sites. The advantages offered by the Center on Religion and Democracy Library include the search capacity, particularly the cross‐document searching allowing for easy comparison of ideas, and access to The Hedgehog Review and the writings of Dr Hadden.
