C H A P M A N L I B R A R Y
About the Chapman Library
The Christian Service University College Library was named after the late Mr. William Henry Chapman, the first Principal of Christian Service College, now Christian Service University College.
Who is Bill Chapman
William Henry Chapman was born in Altrincham, Cheshire on 2nd November 1928. He attended Altrincham Grammar School for Boys from where he graduated with the County Major Scholarship award which afforded him entrance to St. John's College, Oxford to study Chemistry. Before commencing University he had to do two (2) years of National Service. He was drafted into the Intelligence Corps and served in the area of Trieste. On completion of his university course, he intended going on into Research work and was pursuing various possibilities when God stepped into his life and changed his whole direction. An appeal had been given out at the University Christian Union for students to help at a children's mission (CSSM) at Borth in Wales and as Bill had spent many holidays there, he thought it would be a good opportunity to revisit!
William Chapman
However, it was there that God met him in a personal way and his whole outlook on life changed. The Bible became a living Word and when reading one morning in Romans chapter 10, the logic of verses 13 to 15 came with particular force and he responded to them. His goal was now not to research Chemistry but to Preach the Word. He was introduced to WEC (World Evangelization for Christ) through the book "C.T. Studd" and entered the then Missionary Training College in Glasgow. After completing the course he was accepted into the WEC in 1954 and became a lecturer at the College, eventually being asked to take over as Principal. He and Myra, who was a secretary, were married in 1956.A four-term year became the norm as teaching linguistics at SIL (Wycliffe) was added to the MTC program and occasional overseas visits were undertaken in Europe and Asia to gain some of the experiences they lacked.In 1972 Africa came into the picture and from 1973 to 1993 they began 20 happy, though often traumatic, years in Ghana but they rejoiced to see the establishment of the Christian Service College where young men and women continued to be trained for the Lord's service. He also maintained personal study and acquired a BD from London University, which he felt was necessary for the college's profile. Bill had to contend with eye problems and had operations for skin cancers, but he continued with the task to which he was committed. They moved to Abidjan in Cote d'Ivoire for two years in the Regional Office and continued to be based there for Bill to fulfill the assigned role as Training Consultant till the end of 2000 when they returned to the U.K. They " got fully involved in the work of Yoker Evangelical Church, their home church.The onset of acute myeloid leukemia came, so suddenly, and when the second course of chemo treatment proved unsuccessful they realized that Bill's work down here had been completed and thank the Lord that He took him to his heavenly Home peacefully and without undue discomfort.
History of the Chapman Library
The Christian Service College was established in 1974 jointly by the World Evangelization for Christ (WEC) Mission and some Ghanaian evangelical Christians. Six months before the admission of students in October, 1974 the WEC Mission donated some books to the college which served as the first group of library resources. Later, in response to appeals made by the college’s authorities, some donations were made to the institution by some organizations which increased the library’s bookstock.
Some of the organizations were:
-
CEplus
-
Union Theological Seminary Library
-
AkrofiChrystaller Library
-
Feed The Minds
-
Worldwide Evangelization for Christ (WEC)
Current Library / ICT Complex
Current Structiure
The library has a seating capacity of 423. The floor maps of the two floors the library occupies are shown below:
NOTICE BOARD
Our seventh edition of the Orient (the Library Newsletter) is published at the beginning of every semester and is made availble via all our Online and Social Media platforms. This semester's edition is dedicated to the memory of Mr. Oti-Appiah, the former cataloger of the Library.
The Chapman Library has a number of platforms, to which all patrons could be members. Notable among these is the WhatsAop platform, whiich has been used to bring all levels of students together, to have a realtime library information sharing experience.
Patrons are encouraged to join any of the pgrop category they belong to, in order to have this real-time experience with the Library.
The Library organizes a library One-on-One Session for all its patrons, once a year, in the Second Semester of that year.
This is to encourage interfacing with the library on various needs that patrons may have.
This season, however, the One-on-One session will be organized online and done on semester basis. Students, Alumni, Staff and Community Members will be called individually and given an orientation, at their prefered time.
The Library has so far, organized two Open Days, where patrons were given a one-stop tour of the library, both physically and via an online means (for the second program).
The event, not only meant to primarily showcase the resources and services of the library, but as well raise some funds for a special library project. This season, we are raising One Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢100,000.00) to invest into our Virtual Library conceptt.
DAILY
DEVOTIONAL