2017 American Theological Library Association Annual Conference

What are your top concerns in Technical Services? In an open and informal conversation discussing top concerns for Technical Services personnel, participants are especially encouraged to share their experiences with and solutions for the most current issues they face in the profession.

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.

As part of a larger ePortfolio project within our Graduate School of Theology at Oklahoma Christian University, we are incorporating digital badging as a means for acknowledging and assessing student achievement in information literacy, a University core learning outcome. Our use of digital badges reflects recent trends to “gamify” learning, opening possibilities for creative instruction and robust assessment. Specifically, badges empower us to better assess reference interactions, research strategies, bibliography construction, information literacy components in larger projects, information ethics, and the development of research habits for lifelong learning. At the ATLA 2017 Conference, we hope to share how digital badging can empower better assessment of information literacy outcomes in theological education.

In 2015, ATLA decided to expand its electronic resource licensing program partnership with SCELC, which has been in place since 2010. Guided by advice from ATLA Staff and the ATLA Resource Review Advisory Group, SCELCs ATLA affiliate program has grown to include more than 40 libraries licensing 50 different products from nearly 20 different vendors. 

 After a brief introduction to the program, session attendees will hear from a panel of their peers and have an opportunity to ask questions and make recommendations. Panel members will address the strengths and weaknesses of the program and work together with the audience to identify ways to make it more effective. 

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.

Annual business meeting of the Collection Evaluation and Development Interest Group.

Although students are often in the library, using resources and engaging collections, they can also be a rich source of support for library goals. In the 2016-2017 academic year, the Pitts Theology Library piloted a “Library Scholars Program” that offered exceptional graduate students the opportunity to participate in discussions that guide the future of the library. As a part of the program, students have created and executed a project in one of three areas: research, pedagogy, or community engagement. Current student projects include work with special collections items, the creation of Research Guides, and working with exhibits.
This presentation will share the results of this year's pilot program. It was our hope that the Scholar projects would allow students to gain valuable academic and professional experience. We also hoped that these projects would spark the interest of each individual scholar, as they partner with librarians to enhance Pitts offerings in service of the broader community. Through their work, these students will also act as library ambassadors, serving as a vital point of connection, collaboration, and accountability.

Traditionally name authority records served a backend purpose of collocating resources in a library catalog that are by or about a person, corporate body, or conference. The primary purpose for developing a name authority heading was to differentiate the entity represented by the heading from other entities with the same name. Additionally, the information in name authority records primarily served to inform catalogers about where the elements of the heading came from. However, in preparing for a linked data environment, RDA now allows a cataloger to provide much richer information in name authority records enabling the records to serve researchers and reference librarians, in addition to cataloging librarians. This session will discuss the kind of information available in name authority records, how it supports FRBR user tasks, and how reference librarians can use it to serve the researchers they support.

Come join us to discuss relevant issues related to our libraries!

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.

Sebastian Castellio (1515-1563) was a largely forgotten but a very interesting reformer who worked with Jéan Calvin but got into a fierce conflict with him about persecution of heretics. As one of the first theologians to propose a freedom of conscience in the matters of doctrine, Castellio placed ethics above dogmatics, foreshadowing the Enlightenment and even liberal theology.

Come and see the new ATLA digital library and hear more about the new digital projects program and what it means for ATLA and its members. This presentation will discuss the rollout of ATLA’s digital library, built on a Hydra/Sufiya platform, as well as outline the structure of the new digital projects program including the membership benefits and services of this new program. The session will include plenty of time for discussion and Q&A.