St. Nersess Hires Part-time Librarian

Aida Pisani, a retired librarian who has been volunteering her time at the St. Nersess Library since March 2014, has been hired as a part-time librarian at the seminary. When she began two and a half years ago, she started the process of organizing and cataloging the seminary’s library book collection into a new online system, a tremendous undertaking. With the help of volunteers Beatrice Postian, Richard Shelengian, Nectar Sarkisian Munro, Mike Pisani, and St. Nersess graduate, Edgar Gevorgyan, the library collection is now reaching 10,000 volumes which are housed in the new Karekin I Theological Center in Armonk, NY. Over the summer, Aida was assisted by Nune Chuxajyan, an artist, who also helped to repair some books expertly and meticulously.

The St. Nersess Library has one of the largest scholarly collections in North America specializing in Armenian theology, liturgy, history, language and culture. The books are mostly written in English, Armenian, Classical Armenian, as well as French, German, Greek and Italian.

The seminary has a special collection of old rare books which must be preserved. Mrs. Pisani has contacted a conservationist who has evaluated a few samples. The cost of conserving old rare books is high and will require a significant donation or grant to preserve these old precious books.

The library is open to the public on the following days when the librarian is present: Mondays and Wednesdays — 10 am – 1:30 pm and on Fridays — 10 am – 6:00 pm. Queries can be emailed to aida@stnersess.edu or call (914) 273-0200.