Does your library have unique public-domain or copyright-cleared materials you would like to see digitized and accessible online? By outsourcing the digitization to the Internet Archive, your library’s content can be discoverable and accessible not only through the Internet Archive’s site (archive.org) but also through the Theological Commons (commons.ptsem.edu), a free online digital library developed and hosted by Princeton Seminary that provides searching and display for materials on theology and religion from over 150 research libraries. This session will lay out the procedures, costs, and benefits associated with digitization through the Internet Archive, as well as how your content can be incorporated into the Theological Commons through no additional effort on your part. Digital collections that have already been created using this model will be demonstrated and described, with time for questions and discussion.
Director of Digital Initiatives, Princeton Theological Seminary Library
I'm a library administrator and project manager who still codes as much as possible. I enjoy working with a small, agile, cross-functional team using XML, XQuery and XSLT to develop web applications for search and display of digital library collections, including helping build the... Read More →
The choice of location for a new Writing Center is one of great importance as it will affect how the center is integrated into the ethos of an academic community. At Asbury Theological Seminary, the new Writing Center (opened in Fall 2016) was placed under the auspices of the B.L. Fisher Library. This placement has proven to be very beneficial, in large part because of its proximity to the Research Services department.
Research and Writing are integral skills, which cannot be separated in an academic environment. Research informs writing; the writing process directs the research. By placing the Writing Center directly in the library, literally across the hall from Research Services, Asbury Theological Seminary has strategically placed both departments for mutual benefit.
In this presentation, we will explore the reasons behind this decision, the details of its implementation, and the benefits experienced by Asbury students. We will then open the floor for questions and a general discussion of our program and similar programs nationwide.
Interested in boosting the level of scholarship your students use in their writing assignments? Interested in increased use of the library? In today’s reality, students have so many resources at their fingertips, yet are still using spent ideas and unreliable resources. In this workshop, participants will see how at your school, a little structure in the library and partnership with faculty can create a system that both boosts library usage and the level of scholarship. Book A Librarian is a service provided by the library at Colorado Christian University that takes the concepts of reference and appointments and packages it for easy marketability, scalable to your school.
A prominent member of the Atlanta Interfaith community, Iman Plemon El-Amin will speak about his faith journey, the climate and intersections of religion in general and Islam specifically in Atlanta, and the interfaith work he has done in Atlanta, especially through the Interfaith Community Initiatives and the World Pilgrims program. This session is sponsored by the World Religions Interest Group (WRIG).
Join us to hear Mr. Jay Forrest discuss the Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology joint Library Service Center (LSC). The LSC is a collaborative project that houses a shared collection of materials, provides delivery services and frees up space on the main campuses of both universities. The LSC includes: a secure, climate-controlled facility with state-of-the-art equipment and technology to house library collections, provide access to them, and ensure long-term preservation; a module to house approximately 4 million volume equivalents, on a site that can accommodate additional modules as needed; a reading room, allowing users to consult materials on site, so that they can make more precise selections of materials to be delivered to a campus library for use; and multiple deliveries per day of print materials to campus locations, and electronic delivery of scanned content, such as journal articles and conference papers.
Session organized and sponsored by the Collection Evaluation and Development Interest Group.
Library spaces are continuously being redefined. Libraries can no longer solely provide a quiet only environment. At Saint Paul University (SPU), the library has been changing its footprint and has created a collaboration area in an attempt to align classroom and student needs, which are seeing an increase in group assignments. The library has removed most of its reference collection, integrating the majority of the collection with the regular collection in order to provide more space for students. We partnered with the Saint Paul University Student Association, by organizing a weekly board game night in the collaboration area. These initiatives were done in hopes of having social gatherings, as well as an attempt to draw more students to the library and promote library activities, including training and awareness sessions. Over the past year, the SPU Library has seen a 13% increase in foot traffic, which challenges the trend of most academic libraries which are seeing a decrease. This presentation will focus on space redefinition and engagement with a particular focus on the challenges including managing expectations and change with faculty members who were against most of these new ideas.
The librarian at the Franciscan School of Theology (FST) and the Theology & Religious Studies subject specialist librarian at the University of San Diego (USD) collaborated to develop and then pilot a 1.5-unit information literacy course for the graduate students of FST. Development of the course took place over the summer of 2016, and the pilot was implemented in the fall 2016 semester. The class was launched initially as a pilot to test online delivery of the course, the reception of the course by students, and how well the course would connect with other FST coursework.
The instructors will share their experience developing the course, including experiences with Blackboard as the platform for delivery, sources for assignments and topics addressed, and how we developed and adapted the syllabus in include elements of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy. The instructors will also share their experiences implementing the course as a pilot to student volunteers. Finally, the presentation will include information from student evaluations and faculty observations of the course, and the instructors will share their expectations for the course in the future.
David W. Lewis has written an insightful, provocative book on academic libraries titled Reimagining the Academic Library that notes six forces affecting libraries today:
• Technology has changed the socio-economic world around libraries. • Digitally shared knowledge changes how we use it. • The book is changing. • Opening the scholarly record poses challenges that are more social than technical; individual institutions cannot meet those challenges by themselves. • The commodification of scholarly knowledge has given libraries more access to knowledge at an unsustainable price. • Libraries are full of aging staff; to make the changes we need to make, organizations must both tend to morale while also developing new kinds of expertise.
Lewis claims libraries must work collectively to develop a shared responsibility for preserving print, shift funding to open access initiatives, and develop a systemic way for libraries of all sizes to combine their resources.
I propose a paper that asks: How do Lewis’ recommendations apply to theological libraries? How do these recommendations apply to ATLA as an association? How can ATLA librarians stop thinking in local terms and develop a vision of what we can do collectively to preserve, provide access to, and generate knowledge for the church and academy?
