Theological Library Research Articles

COVID-19 Response "Playbooks" at Boston University's School of Theology Library

Theological Librarianship is an open access journal publishing peer-reviewed articles, as well as essays and reviews, on subjects at the intersection of librarianship and religious and theological studies that potentially impact libraries.

The Leo Dehon Library's Response to COVID-19

Theological Librarianship is an open access journal publishing peer-reviewed articles, as well as essays and reviews, on subjects at the intersection of librarianship and religious and theological studies that potentially impact libraries.

How Can We Help?

Theological Librarianship is an open access journal publishing peer-reviewed articles, as well as essays and reviews, on subjects at the intersection of librarianship and religious and theological studies that potentially impact libraries.

Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language

Theological Librarianship is an open access journal publishing peer-reviewed articles, as well as essays and reviews, on subjects at the intersection of librarianship and religious and theological studies that potentially impact libraries.

Using the Anti-racism Digital Library and Thesaurus to Understand Information Access, Authority, Value and Privilege

Theological Librarianship is an open access journal publishing peer-reviewed articles, as well as essays and reviews, on subjects at the intersection of librarianship and religious and theological studies that potentially impact libraries.

Navigating Theological Resources

Objectives
 This study assesses the navigability of a selection of American Theological Library Association and Association of Christian Librarians library websites and measures the extent to which these libraries employ responsive design.
 Methods
 This study uses quantitative content analysis. 
 Results
 The most frequent navigational path for key content was in the main text of the landing page, either through a direct hyperlink or simply as text displayed on the website.
 Two-thirds (66%) of the websites were found to be fully functional in their mobile versions, with only 5 (6%) partially functional and 19 (23%) not functional at all.
 Conclusions
 Theological libraries should consider their mission and resources when organizing their websites. Additionally, they should strive to include basic customer service and research assistance through their website. Putting key content in the main text of the homepage will make it more available to potential users. Libraries will do well to continue efforts toward responsive design.

유상현 교수의 신학 세계 - 삶과 영혼의 자유를 추구하는 신학 -

This paper aims to examine the theological world of Professor Sang-Hyun Yoo. He has been raising many students since 1993, teaching New Testament at Yonsei University. Especially, he devoted his life to the study of the Acts of the Apostles, and published many writings and articles about it. Putting all his writings together, it becomes an Acts commentary. His theological characteristics are as follows below:<BR> 1. Professor Yoo pursues rational-biblicalism. He examines the traditions of the church to make rational-biblicalism understandable. Biblicalism depends on the foundation of the mere Scripture. <BR> 2. Professor Yoo’s writing style is the same as Luke’s writing style. If we read the book of Acts, we can draw a clear picture of the early 1st century church. Likewise, when you read Yoo’s books, you can see the characters and events that appear very realistic.<BR> 3. Professor Yoo emphasizes prayer most among all subjects, a unique trait that only theology has. So he studies for prayer, which is the central theme of the book of Acts. This is like his confession of faith that he can not understand the deep, profound spiritual treasures that God tells us without prayer.<BR> 4. Professor Yoo’s theology reflects the spirit of Yonsei theology that serves the Korean church and pastors. Theological writings of the university are sometimes not as practical that they are ignored by the general public and the church. To overcome this, Yonsei Theology has created the “Yonsei Theological Library,” and is making efforts to publicize and popularize theology. Paul’s Last Journey(2014) published by professor Yoo was the second book from the Yonsei theological Library series.<BR> Professor Yoo’s perspective of the book of Acts is that with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Gospel overcomes all adversities and spreads from Jerusalem to the Ends of the Earth(Acts 1:8). Likewise, Professor Yoo walked firmly for the Gospel and Yonsei spirit of truth and freedom. That’s why we call him a theologian of freedom for soul and life.

Beauty, Embodiment, and Stewardship: Theological Libraries and Theological Ecology

Many faith traditions affirm a profound connection between physicality and spirituality. Similarly, libraries, even while facilitating sublime intellectual connections between authors and readers, have done so, and to an extent continue to do so, as physical places and through the physical medium of books. Given these connections, it is perhaps not surprising that theological libraries can serve as a nexus for exploring the relationship between the physical and the spiritual, between the largely incorporeal acts of intellectual analysis and spiritual contemplation and the physical ecology in which such acts occur and the physical (and digital) media that make them possible. As we have become increasingly aware of the fragility of our physical environment, such connections have taken on greater significance, both as a topic for intellectual analysis and a guide for faithful praxis. This paper offers further consideration of these themes and explores ways in which theological libraries, our collections and services, can both model and further good stewardship.

Global Learning and the Myth of Borders: Examining Theological Education and Librarianship through World-Systems Theory

In the last few years, the language of globalism and borders has been pervasive in the narratives of politics and social commentary. Despite the flurry of opinions, debates, and claims of “fake news,” those who are practitioners in theological education broadly speaking, and theological librarianship, specifically, recognize the deep and profound reality of global education, and the impact that it has on both domestic students and the international representation of students and faculty as one community of learners, practitioners, and seekers. In this paper, we will look at how the language of globalism has been expressed both in popular terms and theological terms; how the evocation of borders and boundaries is not a new idea, but a dated trope reused throughout history for steering narrative claims; and how World-Systems theory enables a broader understanding of theological education and librarianship.

The View from the Dean's Office

With leadership skills gained from careers in theological libraries and experience from working closely with academic administration, theological librarians can be invited to work more directly within a seminary administration--either in administrative roles added to library roles or wholly administrative roles. This panel presented insights from three library colleagues who moved from library to seminary administration. The panel addressed the focus of these administrative roles, points of intersection between academic administration and libraries, how the library is viewed from these offices, and strategies for working together.

Small and Thriving: A Follow-Up to “The Future of the Small Theological Library”

Being small does not have to be a liability for theological libraries. This is the argument Myka Kennedy Stephens makes in her essay published in the April 2016 issue of Theological Librarianship. Instead, being small is something to take seriously and, in many cases, celebrate. As distance learning, hybrid pedagogy, and flipped classrooms continue to make inroads in theological education, how do we now envision the future of small theological libraries? This panel will explore and discuss habits that make theological librarians in smaller contexts successful. Staying attuned to needs, optimizing resources, and acting boldly are the habits Stephens names in her essay. This panel will discuss, expand, and share how these habits are applied in three small theological library contexts.

ATS Accreditation Standards: Brainstorming and Discussion

The presenters provided an overview of the two-year process (2018-2020) to redevelop the standards and procedures for accreditation of the Association of Theological Schools. The session elicited conversation among Atla librarians about the current accreditation standards and how future redesigned accreditation standards might best support the work of theological education, particularly theological libraries, librarians, information resources, and educational technology.

Building Collaboration with Faculty and Instructional Designers

Librarians are often working together within the library, but collaborating with faculty and instructional designers can benefit your students, faculty, and staff. Many large libraries have whole teams working collaboratively, but in a theological library you might be working at a much smaller scale, with a limited budget. This pre-conference focused on approaches that a small team (one librarian and one instructional designer/faculty member) has developed to collaborate across their departments to build a suite of services and collections to serve their patrons. The workshop allowed time to develop a plan of action to bring away three concrete items on which to collaborate with the faculty or instructional designers at your school.

First Nations/Native Americans and Religion: Bibliographic Conversation and Recommendations

A quick search using the subject “Indians of North America – Religion” in Bridwell Library’s catalog retrieved 130 results out of a collection of about 490,000 volumes. This suggests (a) The Library of Congress may want to consider revising some of its subject headings (but that is a topic for another time), (b) religious and spiritual practices among native North Americans/First Nations are not widely studied by our students. While there are certainly exceptions, likely this situation is not unique among theological libraries. This session represents an effort to rectify this by sharing and inviting colleagues to share recommendations of resources on spirituality and religious beliefs and practices of various native North American/First Nations groups and their relation to the faith traditions that are more broadly represented in our collections.

Streaming Video for Theological Education

Recent research reveals significant differences between theological libraries and other academic libraries in the licensing and use of streaming video. State-funded and large research university libraries have reported high adoption and significant expenditure. The comparable trends raise significant questions about support of digital pedagogy in theological education, as well as the potential for new products that meet the curricular priorities and budgetary capacities of theological libraries. This paper reviews recent research and identifies opportunities for licensing of streaming videos among Atla institutions.

Global Theological Librarianship

Three global librarians attending the 2019 Atla International Theological Librarian Leadership Institute described their own libraries and challenges. They reflected on their experience at the Institute and at the Atla Annual Conference.

Envisioning Regional Library Groups

The past presidents of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Theological Library Association (SEPTLA) and the Southern California Theological Library Association (SCATLA), along with a representative from Atla, share the challenges and benefits of regional groups and how Atla can offer support. Panelists discuss ways their regional organizations can remain relevant and move forward.

Information Literacy and Theological Librarianship: Theory and Praxis. Bobby Smiley, ed. Chicago, IL: Atla Open Press, an imprint of the American Theological Library Association, 2019. 189p. Paper, $35.00 (ISBN: 978-1-949800-01-2).

It is easy to think that, since a book may focus on a particular topic, it means that it is not useful beyond those in that field. That is not the case when it comes to American Theological Library Association’s new edited publication Information Literacy and Theological Librarianship . Bobby Smiley, editor and librarian at Vanderbilt University’s Divinity Library, has pulled together authors whose chapters can easily serve both theological librarians and information literacy and instruction librarians. The latter group will find useful information that can be tailored to their needs. The subject-level perspective also provides a lens that can help in approaching other fields. All of the chapter authors are affiliated with a range of different theological libraries at colleges, universities, and seminaries.

Two Research and Publication Projects Related to Theological Libraries

Two Research and Publication Projects Related to Theological Libraries

Learning of Catholic theology in the digital age

This article focuses on the intersections between theological knowledge and the use of the Internet to access study resources for students studying Catholic theology at tertiary institutions. In the 21st century, the use of the Internet to access electronic resources (ERs) is gaining momentum as a tool for obtaining needed information among theology students, to support many aspects of their learning activities. This is mainly because of the proliferation of online theological libraries, as well as the fact that theology students ought to resist the easy path of uncritical passivity and select reliable data from other resources, and welcome it without merely imposing their critical theological opinions and views. Recent literature indicates that the hierarchical nature of Catholic doctrine needs not to exclude openness to the more rhizomatic approaches to knowledge structures that students’ independent accessing of online ER represents. This intersection in learning theology requires a theoretical paradigm shift for adult theology students which can contribute greatly to the enlargement of the theology students’ academic horizon and enriches their minds for an open theological dialogue and discussion with different theological opinions and views.