Policies

Policies adopted by the Atla Board of Directors are contained in the Atla Board Policy Manual (BPM).

Atla Policy on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (Appendix BP15 — Adopted June 2021)

Because of its Core Values, Atla commits to robustly promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within and beyond our community of Collectors and Connectors. Diversity strengthens us as an organization, broadens our knowledge base, and stimulates innovation. We respect and embrace persons regardless of religion, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, ability, and other characteristics representing diversity. We seek to address historic inequities and ongoing barriers by building bridges to foster hospitality, inclusion, and diversity.

Guidelines for Board Resolutions Crafted for a Purpose other than the Governance of the Association (Appendix BP13 – February 2016)

The core purpose of Atla is “To promote worldwide scholarly communication in religion and theology by advancing the work of libraries and related information providers.” An association with a core purpose such as that is bound to consist of members whose interests in, and opinions, judgments, and convictions on matters of religious, ethical, social, and political significance are sometimes diametrically opposed. Indeed, a strength of Atla, developed over the course of a history of hard-won inclusion, has been the differences of its members and their ability to collaborate and form deep and lasting friendships even while respectfully disagreeing on matters of real importance.

For this reason the Association has stated that it values, in addition to “excellence in library collections and services” and the “widest possible access to relevant information and ideas,” “hospitality, inclusion, and diversity,” as well as “collegiality and collaboration” (not to mention “creativity, innovation, and transformation”). It must therefore be careful to represent its membership as a whole.

Committed to values such as these, the Atla board will normally restrict itself to the formulation of resolutions designed to govern the Association. The Board may consider the formulation of resolutions on other matters when all or most of the following conditions obtain:

1. The matter at hand is directly related to or in conflict with the core purpose of the Association.
2. The matter at hand is directly related to or in conflict with the primary activities of the membership considered as a whole.
3. Association members are directly affected.
4. A minimum of ten Association members formally requests action from the board, and does so in response to a specific event or pressing issue.
5. The board has heard from the membership and is able to meet in real time to produce a timely, carefully-considered, and appropriate response.
6. The resolution in question cannot reasonably be construed to pit the opinions of one segment of the membership against those of another.

Guided by its core purpose and values, the board of course supports the widest possible access to information and ideas relevant to the open and hospitable discussion of such issues with an eye to the positive transformation of society, and encourages the members of the Association to act as libraries and related information providers have always done in bringing a balanced array of scholarly communication to bear upon the pressing issues of the day.