{"id":42199,"date":"2013-10-07T14:30:59","date_gmt":"2013-10-07T18:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=42199"},"modified":"2013-10-01T08:54:25","modified_gmt":"2013-10-01T12:54:25","slug":"celebrate-theological-libraries-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=42199","title":{"rendered":"Celebrate Theological Libraries Month!"},"content":{"rendered":"

by R.C. Miessler, Head Editor, INALJ Indiana<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Celebrate Theological Libraries Month!<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"rcmiessler\"<\/a>When people ask me, \u201cWhat do you want to do with your library degree?\u201d laying out my vocational path of theological librarianship can be difficult to explain. After advising that I\u2019m not going to be working in a church library or shelving Bibles all day, I let them know the importance of libraries in seminaries, how digital scholarship is changing the humanities, how theology students need information literacy training. In short, we have the same challenges and rewards that other librarians have, just tailored for a very specific audience. However, theological librarians aren\u2019t just in seminaries and theological schools \u2026 we are subject liaisons in larger institutions, we serve as the<\/i> librarian in smaller schools, and yes, some of us \u00a0do indeed work or volunteer at churches, synagogues, mosques or other religious institutions. The point is, we\u2019re everywhere!<\/p>\n

Thankfully, our field has a very supportive professional community – the American Theological Library Association<\/a> (ATLA). We have a number of resources available to us, including our open access online journal Theological Librarianship<\/i><\/a>, conferences, numerous professional development opportunities, and even a course on theological librarianship<\/a> at the University of Illinois. In addition to resources geared towards the professional life of theological librarians, ATLA provides a number of databases and indexes,<\/a> both free and paid, that are used by scholars of religion around the world. ATLA has also declared October as Theological Libraries Month<\/a>, and many libraries and institutions will be celebrating our vocation. If you\u2019re a theological librarian, be sure to use the TLM in a Box<\/a> for posters, logos and bookmarks; if not, support us by attending theological librarianship events in your area, helping with promotions at your institutions, or just stop by to tell us we\u2019re doing a good job!<\/p>\n

Be sure to support your favorite theological libraries and librarians in October!<\/p>\n

Some ideas for celebrating Theological Libraries Month:<\/p>\n