"The Library’s primary mission is to support the Seminary curriculum by providing for the informational needs of the faculty and student."
-from the Seminary's catalog
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The Ryan Memorial Library provides the resources which respond to the curricular, informational, and research needs of the Seminary faculty, staff, students, and lay patrons. In addition, the Library makes its resources available to priests and deacons in parochial and other ministries, other parish ministers, teachers of religion, and interested lay persons. It also preserves and promotes the Church's cultural heritage by collecting and organizing historical materials and makes them available to scholars.
As the research center of Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, the official seminary of the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Ryan Memorial Library serves the students in the college, theology, diaconate and graduate divisions. It contains over 94,000 physical items in print and audiovisual format, and over 900 print and digital periodicals. Subject strengths include philosophy, patristics, systematic and moral theology, and Sacred Scripture. In addition, the Library has grouped certain items into special collections of Catholic devotional literature, liturgical books, and catechisms.
The Ryan Memorial Library, an Italian Renaissance-style building, had its beginnings with the foundation of Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in 1832. The Library building, opened in 1911, is named for Archbishop Patrick J. Ryan, second Archbishop of Philadelphia. Its vaulted ceiling and arched windows create an atmosphere inviting research and serious study.