Several months ago I was looking for a guide to reliable English translations of the sacred texts to major world religions. I didn’t find one online that I liked, so I made one and turned it into a LibGuide page: Sacred Texts in English Translation. The subpages for that page list English translations of texts relevant to Buddhism, Christianity, Daoism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam along with links and catalog records for my library’s collection. It’s based on an article I published this fall: “Sacred Books in English Translation.” Reference & User Services Quarterly 52:1 (Fall 2012), 18-25. The article has a bit more information about the various texts (such as the difference between Theraveda and Mahayana Buddhism) that I don’t include in the guide, but that information can be found in many places.
If any of you want to copy, use, or adapt the page for your own LibGuides or other library guides, feel free to. Also, if you have any suggestions or criticisms, please email me or leave a comment.
This is very cool. I was, however, a little confused about finding the actual sacred texts until I figured out that they were under a drop-down menu. Since I’m about as experienced a library (and libguide) user as there is, that might be something to take into consideration. I love the Why can’t I find that article? essay.
Jude, that’s a really good point. I was trying to avoid a really long page, since the Hinduism and Buddhism pages are already really long. Maybe I can write something on the main page that would make it clearer.
And glad you like the “why can’t I find that” page. I did that at the suggestion of a colleague because we seem to get that question a lot.