“We will pray for you.” These are the words that flow forth in Barbara Winters’ Virginian intonation to every student who visits Bethlehem College and Seminary and steps within the comforting structure of its library. Surrounded by a “wall” of commentaries, the ever-growing personal collection of John Piper, and a myriad of other resources in the service of a Christ-centered, Bible-saturated liberal arts education, Winters means what she says. The first thing that she will gladly tell anyone who will listen is that she loves Jesus. This love for Jesus flows out of his deep love for her, which he revealed to her by grace on March 3, 1963 when he opened her eyes to see that she must be born again in order to be saved.
Since then, Winters has lived every aspect of her life in light of this reality—most notably in the aspect of her role as a librarian, a position she has held in four major universities for over 50 years. Beginning her career in 1974, she served as the department head at Virginia Commonwealth University, as the assistant/associate university librarian at Wright State University and the University of Georgia, and as dean of libraries at Marshall University. Prior to serving as Bethlehem College and Seminary’s head librarian, she took her first “retirement job” as the director of a public library system in Virginia.
Winters, a widow, has five children and seven grandchildren. While living and working in the South, she would visit some of her children in the Minneapolis area and attend Bethlehem Baptist Church, where she was always encouraged by the preaching of John Piper. By God’s grace, she was made aware that Bethlehem College and Seminary had a need for a librarian, and in 2017, she joined the faculty.
Winters rejoices in being a scholar of library science for the joy of the students at Bethlehem College and Seminary; the students are what make her work most rewarding. “I have never met a librarian who personally takes on the research projects of her patrons. Not only does she search for requested resources, but she seems to remember the project long after— sending along anything related to it that comes across her desk,” states Dr. Betsy Howard. She delights to welcome and invest in each new undergraduate class, both in the college and seminary. She trusts that the Lord brought them to the institution for his glory and that he has great things in store for them after they cross the stage at commencement. According to many, Winters is the “grandmother” of Bethlehem College and Seminary, always willing to be a comforting voice in times of trial and quick with her wit and a good cup of tea.
Over the last 50 years, Winters has seen both change and steadiness in the realm of library science. When she first started her career, she was a clerk, filing cards in the physical cataloging system—a structure that has drastically changed with the rise of the digital age. She remembers when computers were brought into the library at Virginia Commonwealth in 1985, and she held a significant role in contributing to the back-filing of JSTOR, an online research database used by scholars worldwide. The digital era has not deterred Winters from her vocation; rather, it has only increased her zeal for presenting students with helpful and edifying resources in a technologically overwhelming time. Most recently, with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), Winters states that she has “become a bit of an AI diva,” for the dual purposes of knowing what this new technology has to offer and understanding what may be its pitfalls—the possibility of undermining the humanity of scholarship moving forward.
The desire to be a good scholar in an ever-changing period of history continues to be Winters’ main goal as she cares for the students of Bethlehem College and Seminary. “Her librarian’s love of context extends far beyond the walls of the library. She demonstrates a vibrant curiosity about all things. I remember receiving a text message from her once describing some research she had done on the species of ginkgo tree that we see all over the neighborhood around Bethlehem,” reflects Dr. Betsy Howard. Winters’ love for the Lord overflows into an attentive and assiduous care for the students as they labor to be good scholars in the classroom and learn how to navigate everyday life as image bearers. Her prayers hold weight—they have shaped numerous graduating classes—and she is a means of the Lord’s joy and comfort to all he brings into her care.
