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CONVERSATION  
GROUPS

Changing Seminaries, 
Changing Libraries, 
Changing Selves
By Megan E. Welsh, University of Colorado Boulder; Patrick Milas, Princeton Theological 
Seminary

ABSTR ACT Religious identities and practices are changing. Religious 
studies and theological educators are adapting curricula and services 
to support increasingly diverse student populations. On an institutional 
level, some religious studies departments and seminaries’ priorities are 
changing, too.  

For example, Princeton Theological Seminary (PTS) remains one of 
ten seminaries of the Presbyterian Church (USA), but currently, only 28% 
of students identify as PCUSA personally and over fifty Christian tradi-
tions are represented, reflecting a trend toward ecumenism. ATS-accred-
ited institutions have faculty and students whose faiths are outside of 
Judeo-Christian traditions, principal traditions that comprise the ATLA 
membership. Additionally, there is increased representation from secular 
institutions (e.g., University of Colorado Boulder) and organizations not 
affiliated with specific denominations within ATLA membership. 

It’s time for librarians to share with each other their perceptions 
of their institutions’ relationships with students, administrations, and 
denominations, as well as where they fit within ATLA personally.



192  ATL A 2018 PROCEEDINGS

SUMMARY

The conversation group facilitators introduced background informa-
tion, including historical information about the founding of ATLA and 
more recent demographic data which describes ATLA membership 
trends. Additionally, attendees were provided with a paper copy of a 
handout and a link to a live, electronic version of the handout with this 
information and question prompts. 

Responses to a Kahoot quiz helped the facilitators to quickly iden-
tify who was in the room. Through this low stakes and interactive 
medium, attendees disclosed which settings they were from, the faith 
traditions with which they were affiliated, whether their personal reli-
gious affiliation matched that of their institution, and how important 
they considered the differences between personal and institutional 
affiliations to be.

Much of the session focused on an engaging conversation where 
many people from a variety of institutions contributed. There were 
four initial conversation prompts:

 1.  What is your understanding of why ATLA was founded?

 2.  What is the relationship between personal religious belief and 
the affiliation with our institutions? With our students?

 3.  What are the relationships between members’ personal reli-
gious identities and ATLA denominational groups? 

 4.  How can our personal identities strengthen the community in 
which we work? 

The last question received much attention from the group. Attend-
ees recognized that ATLA members come from a variety of institu-
tions, though there was an acknowledgment that some librarians 
consider their work to be a ministry or a vocation. Some attendees 
described their work as being a service to their communities, and they 
said that religious language is a convenient and appropriate way to 
frame their views towards librarianship. Yet, attendees also acknowl-
edged the conflation between the concept of Theology/Religion and 
Christianity, the dominant religion among ATLA membership and the 
United States. This is problematic considering the greater religious 
diversity among the patrons we serve and that ATLA membership is 
becoming more diverse. It takes effort, often from the minority (some 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nAIAa9sFBbnVHThjA7LrusQdcIlvGJvSvEwRQGDKov0/edit#heading=h.fvzt7tzcctjc


Conversation Groups  193

of whom may not visibly express their religious identities), to explain 
differences and counteract preconceived notions around religious 
diversity.

This conversation group demonstrated the necessity of continu-
ing conversations among ATLA members around issues of religious 
identity, what religion means to the membership and the organiza-
tion, and how, as an organization, we can support the diverse religious 
identities present. We must also acknowledge that people approach 
ATLA from different frameworks and for different purposes. For some, 
librarianship and ATLA involvement is a vocation, while for others it 
is primarily a means of networking and professional development. 
Let us remember the unique identities which make ATLA a robust 
and caring community of dedicated librarians.


