








































Professional Development


7

Professional Development 
Becky Givens, Covenant Theological Seminary, Chair

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

• Becky Givens, Covenant Theological Seminary
• Timothy Lincoln, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
• Kellie Barbato, Roberts Wesleyan University and Northeastern 

Seminary
• Megan Welsh, University of Colorado Boulder
• Robert Burgess, Mississippi College
• Andy Lofthus, Western Seminary

YEAR IN REVIEW

The PDC began the year with an in-person planning meeting on 
November 11, 2022, in San Diego, CA, with Atla staff member Jamie 
Lin, where we brainstormed programs for the 2022-2023 year and 
beyond. 

During this year the PDC worked to promote two new educa-
tional programs available through Atla, Library Juice Academy, 
and Skilltype. 

In February 2023 the PCD organized a cohort to take the Li-
brary Juice Academy “LRM: A New Foundation for RDA & the RDA 
Toolkit” class together. A listserv was used to communicate about 
the class lectures, readings, and the future of cataloging. Thirteen 
Atla members participated. I personally found being in a cohort 
encouraging as we navigated this complicated and ever-changing 
world of RDA together.

The PDC also instituted a Professional Development Hour, en-
couraging Atla members to reserve time on their calendars for pro-
fessional development. Members received an email reminder that 
included suggestions of things to watch or read on specific topics 
from the SkillType platform, such as AI and ChatGPT. PDC also ex-
perimented with developing suggested playlists on various topics 



8    ANNUAL Y E ARBOOK

within the platform, but discovered this was not yet fully devel-
oped, but might be useful in the future.

The last program we developed for the 2022-2023 year was a 
Career Development Workshop at Atla Annual. Megan Welsh and 
Courtney McDonald presented a free three-hour CV & Resume 
Workshop for Mid-Career Professionals, where members could 
work on and receive feedback on their resumes.

In addition to these programs for 2022-2023, the PDC also 
worked on planning two Mentoring Programs, one for Directors, 
and one for Students and New Professionals. We hope to see these 
implemented in the future.


