Allied Organizations

Atla is an organization that is active in many different aspects of libraries, scholarly communication, and the information industry. We rely on memberships in various associations and organizations to keep us apprised across this wide range of areas. Some of these memberships also allow us to have a voice in decision making or receive benefits that may be transferable to our own members.

Organizational Memberships

American Library Association

ALA (American Library Association) is a professional membership organization for librarians of all types, which is focused on the development, promotion, and improvement of libraries and the profession. An affiliate membership in ALA gives Atla an opportunity to reserve meeting space and present programs during the ALA Midwinter and Annual conferences each year as well as networking opportunities with other affiliate organizations.

Association Forum

Association Forum is focused on the professional practice of association management for those located in the Chicago area. This organization provides networking and professional development opportunities for staff along with comparative data across associations in all fields.

Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada

ATS (Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada) is a membership organization graduate schools that offer degrees to educate persons for the practice of ministry and for teaching and research in the theological disciplines. The Commission on Accrediting of ATS accredits the schools and approves the degree programs they offer. The majority of Atla member libraries are located at schools accredited by ATS. Atla’s affiliate membership in ATS facilitates collaboration between the two organizations on projects such as educational events and statistics gathering.

Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications

C4DISC (Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications) was founded by ten trade and professional associations that represent organizations and individuals working in scholarly communications. The Coalition was formed to discuss and address issues of diversity and inclusion within our industry.

Coalition for Networked Information

CNI (Coalition for Networked Information) is a nonprofit organization that supports the use of digital information technology to advance scholarly communication, particularly in academic libraries.

CrossRef

CrossRef was founded in 2000 by a group of scholarly publishers who wanted to provide a collaborative, central reference linking service—using DOIs—which would be accessible to, and governed by, the global scholarly communications community. Over the years Crossref has evolved and its mission is now broader. Crossref, as a not-for-profit member organization, aims to make all research outputs easy not just to find, cite, and link, but also to assess and reuse.

HR Source

HR Source (formerly Management Association of Illinois) offers training, consulting services, and benchmarking data for both nonprofit and for-profit organizations in Illinois.

International Coalition of Library Consortia

ICOLC (International Coalition of Library Consortia) is an informal group of library consortia worldwide which facilitates discussion on issues of common interest. Atla benefits by learning of new models for group purchases, new products, and improvements in managing groups of libraries.

In Trust Center for Theological Schools

In Trust (In Trust Center for Theological Schools) is committed to developing leaders at theological schools, including board members, administrators, faculty, staff, collaborative nonprofit professionals, and others. Atla belongs so that we keep abreast of trends in seminaries and divinity schools that impact our member libraries and librarians. It also allows us to help educate boards about the importance of libraries in theological education.

Library Publishing Coalition

LPC (Library Publishing Coalition) extends the impact and sustainability of library publishing and open scholarship by providing a professional forum for developing best practices and shared expertise. LPC members comprise a robust network of libraries and library consortia committed to enhancing, promoting, and exploring the growing field of library publishing.

National Standards Information Organization

NISO (National Standards Information Organization) is a nonprofit that identifies, develops, maintains, and publishes technical standards relevant to the information industry. Atla is a voting member, which gives us a voice in standards that are relevant to our work as a database producer and also to our members as consumers of information. Atla staff have served on committees and working groups as well as on the board.

Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition

SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) works to enable the open sharing of research outputs and educational materials in order to democratize access to knowledge, accelerate discovery, and increase the return on the investment in research and education. As a catalyst for action, SPARC focuses on collaborating with other stakeholders—including authors, publishers, libraries, students, funders, policymakers, and the public—to build on the opportunities created by the Internet, promoting changes to both infrastructure and culture needed to make open the default for research and education.

UKSG

UKSG is an international entity that connects the organizations that are involved in scholarly communication and supports the discussion and progression of issues in the field. Attending the annual conference gives Atla staff exposure to the global information industry and advances in scholarly communication worldwide.

Individual Memberships

In cases where organizational membership is not accepted or for which it is not practical or cost-effective for Atla to join, staff members maintain key memberships. This includes AAR (American Academy of Religion), ASAE (American Society of Association Executives), Force11, and SBL (Society of Biblical Literature).

Theological Library Association Collaborators

Atla also actively collaborates with other theological library associations from around the globe. Our work together can take many forms, from being the convener of a collaborative task force on international theological librarianship education that includes representatives from some of these associations to attending each other’s conferences and collaborating on projects.

Association of British Theological and Philosophical Libraries

Atla staff frequently attend ABTAPL conferences.

Australian and New Zealand Theological Library Association

ANZTLA‘s (Australian and New Zealand Theological Library Association’s) mission is almost identical to Atla’s. We send a representative to their conference every year, host their e-journal, and provide grant funding to ANZTLA to assist librarians in their region to attend the ANZTLA annual conference.

Bibliothèques Européennes de Théologie

BETH (Bibliothèques Européennes de Théologie) is an ecumenical association of European national theological library organizations as well as single libraries. Its members together represent nearly 1500 libraries, spreading from north to south, east to west of Europe. BETH builds networks and establishes contacts, supports and promotes cooperation, stimulates library development, serves the interests of European theological libraries and works for the preservation of the rich cultural patrimony found in the theological and ecclesiastical libraries of Europe. Atla cooperates with BETH by attending their annual conference each year. Atla and BETH also have a formal agreement established to promote Atla’s research tools in Europe.

Forum of Asian Theological Librarianship

Atla sends representatives to ForATL (Forum of Asian Theological Librarianship) conferences, which are held every two-three years, and provides grant funding to ForATL to assist librarians in their region to attend the ForATL Conference.