American Theological Library Association


The American Theological Library Association is a nonprofit, 501, professional association, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Atla's member libraries and librarians provide resources for scholarly research to tens of thousands of students, faculty, staff, and administrators. The association supports the membership with services and products, including an annual conference, members-only publications and discounts, and professional development opportunities.

Mission

The mission of the American Theological Library Association is to foster the study of theology and religion by enhancing the development of theological and religious studies libraries and librarianship. Established in 1946, Atla is governed by an elected board of directors and has over 800 individual, institutional, and affiliate members.

History

The first step toward the creation of Atla came at the 1946 biennial meeting of the American Association of Theological Schools when presidents and deans in attendance asked the AATS executive committee to call a conference of theological librarians. In June 1947, fifty theological librarians, one president, and one dean met in Louisville, Kentucky, to organize a permanent association and plan the future agenda of the American Theological Library Association. The group identified six major areas to address and assigned responsibilities for them: 1. AATS Booklist, 2. Cataloging and Classification, 3. Periodical Exchange, 4. Periodical Indexing, 5. Publications, and 6. Training of Personnel.
Programs developed rapidly in the new Association, including the following milestones:
More recent activities of Atla include:
The Atla Publishing Program serves professionals engaged in librarianship and scholarly communication, students, scholars, and religious professionals in the disciplines of religion and theology by publishing original content. Many of these publications include Open Access.
Atla offers electronic resources to support the scholarly study of religion and theology, including the Atla Religion Database, AtlaSerials , and AtlaSerials PLUS.
Atla also oversees historical archives initiatives and works with several publishing partners to offer electronic versions of specialized bibliographic and reference products.
Atla provides products for students, scholars, researchers, faculty, and religious leaders conducting research.