I just learned today about a new organization via email.  Daniel Roland, an Assistant Professor at the School of Library and Information Science, Kent State University informed an email list about the newly formed Center for the Study of Information and Religion. He is seeking grant funding for a project to create a digital repository of religious messages for an open access resource for research. The repository currently consists of

"less than one hundred sermons prepared by Christian clergy members, but the goal is to collect religious messages from all faiths.  The small sample of records are available for demonstration purposes as CSIR is in the process of applying for grant funding to finance the development and expansion of the Religious Messages Repository."

Professor Roland is inviting scholars you to visit the repository and take a brief survey. The data gathered from the survey will be collated as supporting documentation for the grant proposal. A few words about the Center for the Study of Information and Religion (CSIR) itself

The mission of the CSIR is to facilitate research within the LIS field that is focused on the various institutions and agents of religion and their affect on social knowledge through the use, dissemination, and diffusion of information. The CSIR utilizes an interdisciplinary approach with other fields in the Social Sciences and collaborative partnerships with various representatives of religious faiths and denominations. Goals: 1. To investigate the importance and use of information in the religious world. 2. To understand the relationship between the information-seeking behavior of clergy and the body of knowledge which exists to serve their information needs. 3. To advance our understanding of the role of information in religious practice especially in the contextual realms of belief, faith, knowledge, and wisdom. 4. To investigate the role and influence of religious communication forms, i.e., sermons, in the social construction of knowledge.

I wish the Center and the project good luck and will keep following their work.