Dear Patrons, 

Welcome to the Bishop Payne Library web site, your portal to our theological research services, the Library catalog and the library's electronic databases (remote access for VTS students, faculty, staff and Board members).

The library's collection contains over 200,000 items. The library is open 78 hours per week, and our library staff is dedicated to research assistance. Contact us through the Ask a Librarian service or call us at (703)461-1733.

Click here for information about borrowing privileges at the Bishop Payne Library and for information about the Washington Theological Consortium reciprocal borrowing agreement, which provides access for VTS students and faculty to the ten other libraries of the consortium.

We invite you to explore our pages on the Virginia Seminary Archives and the African American Episcopal Historical Collection, a joint project of VTS and the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church which documents the role of African Americans in the Episcopal Church.

"Seek the Truth, Come Whence it May, Cost What it Will" is the Bishop Payne Library motto. Come seek the truth here.

Mitzi Budde
Head Librarian & Professor