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So Your School is 
Becoming More 
Religiously Diverse...
Drew Baker, MLIS, PhD 
Assistant Library Director and Head of Technical Services 
Claremont School of Theology

Beth Larkee Kumar, MLIS, EdM 
Head of Reference Services 
Graduate Theological Union

T. Patrick Milas, MLIS, PhD 
Director of the Gardner A. Sage Library 
New Brunswick Theological Seminary

ABSTR ACT Over the past decade, many Atla-member institutions 
have become increasingly religiously diverse. From larger actions like 
starting new interreligious programs or partnering with other institu-
tions to smaller steps like changing branding and programming, many 
institutions have actively sought to become more ecumenical and/
or interreligious and attract more students from religious traditions 
beyond the institutions’ particular historical traditions. Given this real-
ity, how can librarians at these schools adapt to serve their increasingly 
religiously diverse students better? What do librarians whose institu-
tions are moving in more ecumenical or interreligious directions need 
to consider? From collection development to reference and instruction, 
this panel reflected on this topic as the panelists raised important ques-
tions and provided helpful, practical advice based on their experiences 
at their institutions.

All three panelists are part of the World Religions Interest Group 
(WRIG) of Atla. More information on WRIG is at https://www.atla.com/
learning-engagement/groups/ig/wrig/ 

https://www.atla.com/learning-engagement/groups/ig/wrig/
https://www.atla.com/learning-engagement/groups/ig/wrig/


Panel Presentation 71

BACKGROUND OF EACH SCHOOL

New Brunswick Theological Seminary
At New Brunswick Theological Seminary, we have been increasingly 
diverse since the 1970s, but that increased diversity has been primar-
ily related to denomination, race, and gender. As the oldest Protestant 
seminary in the United States, we have a rich history of preparing 
white men for ordained ministry in the Reformed Church in Amer-
ica, our parent denomination, since 1784. We are humbled to now 
prepare predominantly women of color for myriad career paths in 
many denominations and non-profits. It’s religious diversity where 
we are most excited to grow next. In spirit and institutional culture, we 
have been embracing interfaith sensibilities for years, but the collec-
tion development policies pertain directly to the curriculum. With-
out curricular change, collection changes can be difficult to justify 
with faculty and administrators. We are just beginning to consider 
the implications of two new opportunities to expand the scope of 
our traditional collection development practices. The opportunities 
both relate to newly accredited degree programs, an ATS-accredited 
academic MA that affords space for interfaith studies, and a region-
ally-accredited professional MA that can prepare folks for interfaith 
chaplaincy with state licensure in counseling. We are eager to gradu-
ally select more interfaith items, but we don’t know what they are yet.

Claremont School of Theology
Throughout its history, Claremont School of Theology has been at the 
forefront of seminaries seeking to become more religiously diverse. 
Beginning with a deep ecumenical Christian spirit in 1885, CST was 
one of the first seminaries in the United States to explicitly welcome 
non-Christian students. In the past ten years (coinciding with my time 
at CST), CST has made significant progress in becoming a more reli-
giously diverse institution—with more diverse faculty, staff, students, 
messaging, events, partnerships, and programs.

Much like other institutions, the growth in religious diversity at 
CST began with students; as CST’s student body became increasingly 
religiously diverse, the institution (and the library) looked to improve 
its services to meet this diversity. In the library, we have adopted 
several intentional strategies to serve our increasingly diverse 



72  ATL A 2019 PROCEEDINGS

students better. We have sought expertise among our staff, faculty, 
student workers, as well as outside the institution. This expertise has 
helped us improve our collections, reference, and instruction related 
to traditions beyond mainline Christianity. We have reevaluated 
dominant approaches to topics like information literacy and research 
training (which favor “scholarly” and “textual” sources) that might 
distort or conceal some non-Christian traditions. Instead, we focused 
on the diverse contexts of sources for research. We have worked to 
listen to the voices of our religious minority students so that we can 
address their needs better. Our staff has taken seminars on topics 
like microaggression training so that we can help create a more 
welcoming and inclusive space. We have developed partnerships 
with local experts and practitioners to create displays that honor and 
feature many different traditions within our community. We have 
made significant progress and yet there is much more work to be done.

Graduate Theological Union
The Graduate Theological Union formed in 1962 with what was, at the 
time, a bold idea. Seminaries of different denominations, who had 
worked together in the past, decided to formally cooperate by combin-
ing collections to become a single library while remaining individu-
ally accredited institutions with their separate faculties, students, 
and staff. The seminaries were all physically located near each other 
in the Holy Hill neighborhood, and most were founded in the mid-to-
late 1800s. This consolidated library would support graduate theologi-
cal education and promote ecumenical and interreligious dialogue. 

Ecumenical from the start with eight seminaries (Catholic, Prot-
estant, and Unitarian), the GTU established a Center for Jewish Stud-
ies fifty years ago. Since then, the GTU expanded its interreligious 
connections, affiliating with the Institute of Buddhist Studies in 1985, 
opening a Center for Islamic Studies in 2007, and founding a Center 
for Dharma Studies in 2015. With students from nearly every branch 
of religion (and others which are none), the GTU has become a hub of 
diversity in the already diverse city of Berkeley, California. 

However, there are still silos to break down, as each tradition 
coexists side-by-side, with primarily the students in the consortial 
PhD program learning about religions other than their own. The 
Divinity students (MDiv & DMin) still mostly take courses from their 



Panel Presentation 73

own seminaries and with people of their own faith. The library remains 
the only consortial campus space that every student can call their own. 

As such, the GTU librarians have been at the center of religious 
diversity, first with our collections. The original library collection 
formed when the eight seminaries physically merged and cataloged 
their books and journals, and continued with the current collection 
development policy encompassing the religions, both traditional faiths 
and new religious movements. Today, we are asking more questions 
beyond the books, in order to be inclusive and welcoming to all. 

QUESTIONS

Each of us on the panel has taken a role in our institutions where we 
can shape the services and collections of our libraries and have a voice 
with the campus administration. However, we don’t have a one-size-
fits-all solution, since each campus and each religion has different 
needs within the library. 

We’ve developed a list of questions that we have asked ourselves to 
continue the conversation about inclusivity in our libraries. The first 
and most obvious area of diversity to measure is the collection—but 
the collection is often a reflection of the current and historical student 
and faculty population, i.e., courses taught in the past. It may not 
reflect the future of the seminary or the composition of the employ-
ees and their faith traditions. 

Our questions include:
• Should the permanent art collection be more neutral, such as 

florals instead of images of Jesus?
• How are holidays recognized in the library displays and social 

media? Do we celebrate and decorate for them all or none?
• Do any of your staff meetings begin with a prayer, Bible reading, 

or song?
• What foods can we serve at staff events and meetings to accom-

modate all the religious preferences? Should we serve vegetarian 
food only?

• What is your policy on faith-based work restrictions—such as 
specific holidays off when the library is open?

• How can our workshops, instruction sessions, and LibGuides use 



74  ATL A 2019 PROCEEDINGS

more diverse examples to teach, and when is it best to teach to 
the majority?

• How can reference librarians be expected to answer questions 
about religions they do not know anything about, or possibly have 
never heard of?

• How can you best utilize religious or foreign language expertise 
in your staff, including your student employees?

• Is it possible to have an interfaith or interreligious prayer/medi-
tation room? Or is it just a multi-faith room, as individuals are 
silently praying alone?

• Does your library or campus send out Christmas cards or have a 
Christmas tree? Do you feature other traditions in a display? 

• Would your staff be receptive to an interreligious or microaggres-
sion training session?

• How can you handle changes without upsetting the majority/
traditional denomination or perspective at your library? (Change 
is scary!)

CONCLUSIONS AND PROGRESS

While we don’t have all the answers, we believe we are progressing 
toward a more inclusive and welcoming place to people of all faiths. 
There isn’t a single correct way to serve your students and staff as 
they diversify, but asking questions and brainstorming solutions 
is a start. The important part is that you and your library are open 
to asking questions and starting an interreligious dialog. Whether 
these conversations include partnering with external faith leaders, 
or you begin discussions as a staff, the essential part is to remain 
inclusive and welcoming, even when you don’t necessarily know the 
right things to do. 


