New Ways to Connect & Collaborate with Atla Digital Library

Since the launch of the Atla Digital Library in 2018, Atla has listened to feedback from our members and other digital library contributors and users about what their digital collection and digitization needs are. We have made several improvements to the overall usability of the Atla Digital Library and have launched some new initiatives to support the needs and interests of our users. We invite you to explore the various ways that you can share and use, contribute to, and engage with the Atla Digital Library.

Share the Atla Digital Library with Your Students & Faculty

Digital Library

The Atla Digital Library brings together in a singular, searchable platform digitized collections from libraries, religious institutions, and other organizations worldwide that collect and preserve texts, records, maps, photographs, recordings, and other materials. The items found in the Atla Digital Library are of importance to those with an interest in researching, studying, teaching, and otherwise searching for historical and archival content in religion and theology. 

Exhibits

Atla Digital Library Exhibitions provide a unique opportunity to further discover, engage, explore, and promote the diverse collections included in the Digital Library. Exhibits bring together and highlight resources from across institutions by incorporating individual works from multiple contributors to the Digital Library into a cohesive and centrally themed exhibit.

Contribute to the Atla Digital Library & Exhibits

Curate an Exhibit

We are seeking curators to create exhibits for the Atla Digital Library. These can be created by individuals, as a collaborative effort for a class, or by a library.  

Some examples of how Atla Digital Library Exhibits could be utilized:

• Digital humanities projects.
• Collaborative projects among librarians, students, researchers, or community members.
• Support instructional activity.
• Highlight research or other scholarly projects.
• Commemorate historical events.
• Cultural or social awareness campaigns.

Contact us for more information or if you wish to propose an exhibit. 

Contribute Your Digital Collections

Harvesting
If your institution has digitized and described digital collections available online through a content management platform with OAI-PMH enabled, such as CONTENTdm, Omeka, or Internet Archive, you may be able to contribute these collections to the Atla Digital Library. Additionally, we can harvest existing online collections using CSV files.

Harvesting of metadata into the Atla Digital Library is free for Atla Institutional and Affiliate-Candidate members who have digitized collections that are hosted online with metadata that meets the criteria of the Atla Digital Library collection policy.

Hosting

Beginning November 1, Atla member institutions that have digitized collections without a platform for hosting and public viewing may now contribute those collections to the Digital Library. 

Hosting through the Atla Digital Library is a fee-based service available to Atla Institutional and Affiliate-Candidate members who have digitized collections and metadata that meet the criteria of the Atla Digital Library collection policy. This service is not intended to function as an institutional repository or as a preservation archive. If you are an Atla member institution with physical collections that are not yet digitized, consider applying for a new Atla Digitization Grant Program. 

For more information, including requirements and pricing, on hosting through the Atla Digital Library or to inquire about our existing metadata harvesting program, please contact us.

You can also check out recordings of the Atla Digital Library webinar series.

Do You Have Collections That You Would like to Digitize?

Digitization Grant Program 

Atla has just announced a new grant program to support Atla’s member institutions in their efforts to digitize and describe their special collections and archives for wider access and use. Grants to support both new and continuing digitization projects are available. We encourage anyone considering applying for a digitization grant to request a pre-application consultation, especially if they are new to digitization work. Applications are due February 28, 2022. 

For full program details on this new program, including instructions on how to complete the application form and a link to the application form, please visit the Digitization Grant program information page.  

Digitization LibGuide

For more information and an overview of the digitization process, check out our Digitizing Collections LibGuide.

Register for Upcoming Digitization Opportunities Webinar

During this informative webinar, attendees will learn about some exciting new opportunities available to Atla members who are thinking about or are already engaged in digitization initiatives at their libraries.

Christine Fruin, Atla’s Scholarly Communication and Digital Initiatives Manager, and Christy Karpinski, Digital Initiatives Librarian, will share details on how Atla members can utilize the Atla Digital Library to host their digital collections as well as how Atla members can apply for funding to digitize their special collections and archives through the new Atla Digitization Grant Program.

Alex Parran of Backstage Library Works will then explain the services they provide to libraries to assist with their digitization and metadata creation needs.

This free webinar will be held on January 20, 2022, at 2:00 CT. Register today!