During the pandemic, many of the “normal” library functions of research, teaching, education, reference, etc., have slowed down significantly. As a result, we here at the Center for Inquiry Libraries have had an opportunity to catch up on many of the functions that take a back seat to other time-sensitive duties.

One such item was a total reworking of our website, CFILibraries.org. I personally managed it in the past but could not update it often enough to redesign it to current standards. This past summer, the CFI Web Department took over the job and redesigned the entire site. They converted it to WordPress, which our other websites at CFI use, and made it conform to our other CFI websites’ design. My job now will be to add more content, such as A to Z lists, bibliographies, finding aids, and other resources.

I thank the Web Department—Marc Kreidler, Alexander Nicaise, and Michael Powell—for their hard work and Lori Roux from Cybertools for Libraries, who allowed us to have some flexibility with the licensing of our Library Management software to make the redesign possible.

The CFI Libraries, located at CFI’s headquarters in Amherst, New York, contains a vast array of books, documents, and periodicals, including the John and Mary Frantz Skeptics Library, the premier library of skepticism in the world. Topics covered include critical thinking, evolution, science, the paranormal, pseudoscience, quack medicine, skepticism, the supernatural, and urban legends. The Libraries also includes works on philosophy, rationalism, atheism, agnosticism, religious criticism, freethought, humanism, and separation of church and state. It also includes the papers and books of Paul Kurtz, Martin Gardner, and Gordon Stein as well as the Steve Allen Notebooks. Its rare books collection includes various first editions of Thomas Paine’s Age of Reason.

The CFI Libraries continues to support the work of the skeptical movement and CFI, and, as always, we accept donations of library materials (books, periodicals, and so forth). For further information on how to donate materials to the libraries, please contact Timothy Binga by calling (716) 636-4869 ext. 210 or via email at tbinga@centerforinquiry.org.