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Association Update
Brenda Bailey-Hainer, Executive Director, Atla

This is traditionally the time when I provide an update on the Asso-
ciation and talk about the state of Atla’s finances, the work of staff 
and committees, and major accomplishments from the past year. 
Then I go on to say a few words about what is planned for the next 
fiscal year.

Today my comments on what has been accomplished will be posi-
tive but brief. Atla is doing well. Revenues last year exceeded the bud-
geted amount, and expenses were less than projected. You just heard 
that the balance in the Endowment Fund is good—and can continue 
to grow even more with the help of your donations.

Our membership numbers are steady, and I’m encouraged by all 
the faces I see here in the room that are new to me and the roster of 
online attendees that includes both long-time members and others 
who joined just in the last few months. Volunteers on our committees, 
task forces, and editorial boards did a stellar job of providing a broad 
array of webinars, workshops, publications, and guided conversa-
tions. Our staff worked with the conference committee to make last 
year’s online conference—and this year’s hybrid experience—a great 
success. Atla’s open-access press published more books and journals 
on theological librarianship and related topics. Yes, Atla survived the 
last two years of the pandemic and is doing well.

All of this information plus the many supporting details will be 
published in my column in the July 2022 Atla Newsletter.

This year, however, I’m doing something a little different with 
the rest of my time.

BUSINESS REPORTS



Business RepoRts  3

By now, you may have heard that I will be retiring soon. This is 
my last Atla Annual as Executive Director. It’s been eleven and a half 
years since I joined Atla. My first Atla experience was a board meet-
ing in Chicago in January two weeks after I started. Talk about haz-
ing!!! My first Atla conference was in Chicago in 2011. Even though 
I had worked in academic libraries and with librarians of all types 
and in the information industry across North America and interna-
tionally for a couple decades, almost all of the attendees there were 
new to me. But everyone was friendly and enthusiastic.

In some ways, it feels like I’ve been part of the Atla family forever 
now. Since Atla board members can serve two consecutive three-
year terms, or six years, I think about my tenure here as equal to just 
about two full generations of boards.

I still think fondly and gratefully of all the board presidents who 
nurtured me, starting with Laura Wood, John Weaver, Andy Keck, 
Beth Bidlack, Kelly Campbell, Matt Ostercamp, Jennie Bartholomew, 
Stephen Sweeney, Christina Torbert, and finally—at least for the last 
half an hour or so—Jérémie LeBlanc. Each of them helped me in 
their own unique way, and I appreciated their patience with me as I 
learned about theological libraries and librarianship.

The Atla Executive Director position is a complex job. It means 
tracking and being conversant not just in theological librarianship 
and theological education, but also academic library trends, the in-
formation industry, nonprofit best practices, and association man-
agement. But no matter where I turned my attention, I found a wel-
coming community eager to collaborate and cooperate.

I can’t sing enough praise for my colleagues at peer organiza-
tions that also produce humanities databases. They welcomed me 
into their circle, and I was fortunate enough to serve on the board of 
NFAIS (now part of NISO), the professional association for those of 
us creating indexes, databases, and discovery tools. In particular, I 
have appreciated the partnership and support of EBSCO—especially 
our primary liaison, Ryan Bernier. It has been such a wonderful col-
laboration both on a professional and a personal level.

Other professional collaborations that supported me aren’t rep-
resented here today. The now retired Executive Director of the Theo-
logical Book Network, Nancy Arnison, invited me to serve on the TBN 
board. It was a rich and educational experience, especially our board 
trip to Ghana where we visited theological seminaries. A side trip to 
the El Mina slave castle along the coast was a life-changing experi-



4  AtLA 2022 pRoCeeDinGs

ence for all of us. Others are Jay Blossom, formerly the editor of In 
Trust magazine; Deena Pence from the Wabash Center, who retired 
a few years ago; John Kutsko at the Society for Biblical Literature; 
our publisher partners, some of whom exhibited here; but also the 
hundreds of others who offer their content through Atlas® and Atlas 
PLUS®. Sadly, not all of them made it through the pandemic. I espe-
cially miss Paul Peeters, who was the Executive Director of Peeters 
Publishers in Louvain, Belgium.

Because Atla has such a long history, I often am not familiar with 
the people we honor in the memorials each year since their active 
membership predated me. But there are many I did have personal 
knowledge of. I miss Lorraine Olley, who always raised her hand 
during the Association Update and asked hard budget questions. 
And Melody McMahon, who was an advocate for scholarly com-
munication and publishing: she served on the Atla board and used 
her editing skills to apply the Chicago Manual of Style to the Board 
Policy Manual. Atla may be the only association with an official style 
manual! Finally, I mourn the loss of Don Vorp, who was a strong sup-
porter for the research that Ithaka S&R did with Atla members on 
the habits of researchers in our field.

And I will cherish the many connections I made with current Atla 
members who shared their personal selves with me as we made spe-
cial connections over diverse topics like science fiction, the blues, 
scarves, eclectic music, Iceland, cats, and museums.

In addition to the trip to Ghana, I had many other amazing expe-
riences as part of my work. One of the most memorable was attend-
ing the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Salt Lake City. The fall 
board meeting was held there so all could experience it by attending 
sessions and listening to music related to the spectrum of religions 
represented there. The BETH conferences in Europe, the ForATL 
conferences in southeast Asia, and ANZTLA conferences in Australia 
and New Zealand all helped forge strong international connections.

None of Atla’s achievements would be possible without the many 
talented staff. When you come to conference or attend webinars, 
you see Denise, Christy, Christine, Jamie,  John, Tawny, Gregg, and 
many others over the years. But in addition to all of them, there are 
so many others who work behind the scenes in metadata analysis, 
technology, finance, marketing, IT, and HR. Atla’s success is not pos-
sible without them.



Business RepoRts  5

At the board meeting earlier this week, I was asked about the ac-
complishments of which I am most proud. It’s not terribly sexy, but 
infrastructure seems to have been my forte. I fly a lot, so I always 
hear the safety instructions in my head: “Secure your own oxygen 
mask before helping others.” It was important to ensure that Atla 
was financially self-sustaining first, so that we have the strength 
and resources to support our members and collaborative activities 
with others.

So, here’s my list:
• A new software platform to support production of the Atla 

products
• Association management software, new website, new ac-

counting software to support our work with members and 
business partners

• Working with the board on the vision, core values, and 
core purpose developed in 2015, with the resulting bylaws 
changes and rebranding that helped make it a reality

• Downsizing Atla’s physical footprint so we are spending 
significantly less on rented real estate and are able to shift 
those funds to other uses

• Starting the scholarly communication efforts under the 
new vision, including the digital library and the open press

• Expanded and improved diversity of content in Atla prod-
ucts

• And most of all, building a strong leadership team—Margot 
Lyon, Maria Stanton, Gillian Harrison Cain, Jim Butler, and 
Chad Handshy

All in all, I’m confident I’m leaving the association in a good place.
What didn’t I get done? A lot! And I’m especially wistful about 

leaving since being so inspired by Tony Zander’s keynote address 
yesterday. There are so many more exciting opportunities for trans-
forming the work of theological and religious studies librarianship 
in the future!

But there always comes a time when it feels like it’s the right time 
to move on and make way for the next generation of energetic and 
passionate leadership. I think a lot about the role of people who do 
the prep work for what is to come. As a music lover, I often think of 



6  AtLA 2022 pRoCeeDinGs

the timpani player leaning over to tune, gently tapping and adjust-
ing the pitch, before the symphony begins.

Anyone here a hockey fan? I now realize that I’ve been the Atla 
Zamboni driver, moving in ever narrower concentric circles on the 
ice, sweeping the surface, preparing the rink so that the next gen-
eration of Atla leadership has smooth skating ahead. And now I can 
step aside and watch from the spectator seats to see what great things 
Atla accomplishes in the future.

Thank you.


