












































Relationships, Relationships, Relationships


368  ATLA 2023 PROCEEDINGS

Relationships, Relationships, 
Relationships
Connecting through Atla
Susan Ebertz, Director of the Reu Memorial Library and Assistant Professor of 
Bibliography and Academic Research, Wartburg Theological Seminary
Nancy Kirkpatrick, Executive Director and CEO, OhioNet, Inc. 
Karl Stutzman, Director of Library Services, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical 
Seminary

ABSTRACT Professional relationships that are respectful and caring form 
the basis for success for theological and religious studies librarians individu-
ally and collectively, especially in a rapidly changing world. Atla’s core values 
include “hospitality, inclusion, and diversity.” Atla has a history of diverse 
individuals coming together for a common purpose; there is also a trajec-
tory of moving toward greater diversity. This workshop, which originated 
from a conversation between two Atla Board of Directors members (Susan 
Ebertz and Karl Stutzman) following a board learning experience with In-
digenous leaders, included expert facilitation (Nancy Kirkpatrick) around a 
variety of questions related to continuing to build respectful relationships 
within the association.

INTRODUCTION

This Atla Annual workshop session included presentation content 
and facilitated group activities. The workshop began with introduc-
tions, centering, land acknowledgement, and ground rules. Karl and 
Susan shared the story of how the workshop originated along with 
the way their relationship has emerged through years of connect-
ing through Atla.

This workshop began as a conversation between Susan and Karl 
about professional relationships and Atla’s core value of hospitality. 
The conversation was the outcome of a learning experience at the 
November 2022 Atla Board of Directors meeting in Vancouver, in 
which Camille Callison, the first Indigenous university library direc-



POST-CONfERENCE WORkShOP  369

tor in Canada, said the central takeaway should be “relationships, 
relationships, relationships.” Atla is a rich web of relationships for 
theological and religious studies librarians, and Atla’s hospitality for 
diverse faith orientations, race and ethnicity, cultural backgrounds, 
and political views is a tremendous resource to draw upon as we 
build libraries and learning communities that are relevant in an 
online and networked world. Atla is expanding its horizons to in-
clude an increasing variety of diversity dimensions as it leans into a 
vision of global interaction and attends to issues of diversity, equity, 
and inclusion.

INDIGENOUS WISDOM FOR ATLA: KARL STUTZMAN

At the Atla Board educational experience in Vancouver in November 
2022, we learned a number of key things that Atla as an organization 
can benefit from as it moves forward.

One of these is a sense that humans and their environment are 
an integrated whole, a web of relationships between people, plants, 
animals, sky, water, etc. All benefit together, and what is good for 
the whole is what is good for humans and vice versa. Relationships, 
broadly defined, are fundamental to our existence. We harm each 
other and our environment at our own peril.

Another of these learnings is that we can develop protocols, just 
as the Indigenous community in the Canadian Pacific has done, to 
both create interconnectedness and honor core group identities. Re-
markably, the Indigenous groups in the Vancouver area have main-
tained very distinctive languages and cultures while intermarrying 
and socializing together because they have strong protocols for their 
interactions, ways of treating each other with respect and dignity. 
One example of a protocol that our leaders gave to us was that when 
an elder approaches a village in a canoe, the younger persons in the 
community go out into the water and carry the canoe in as a sign of 
respect and hospitality. What might Atla’s protocols be that ensure 
respectful diversity, not homogeneity?

ARTIFICIAL AND REAL INTELLIGENCE: KARL STUTZMAN

We’ve all heard about ChatGPT and related artificial “intelligence” 
tools that convincingly do things that used to be the exclusive do-
main of humans, like writing essays. What does this mean for us as 



370  ATLA 2023 PROCEEDINGS

academic librarians? Are we suddenly out of a job? A book I read 
on this topic, Robot-Proof by Joseph Aoun (2018), addresses the is-
sue of artificial intelligence and what it means for higher education. 
Aoun, president of Northeastern University, emphasizes the need 
for what he terms human literacy in the coming age. He writes that 
human literacy is the most important of the three new literacies he 
proposes (the other two are technological literacy and data literacy), 
and that “perhaps especially in the robot age, what matters is other 
people” (Aoun 2018, 58). He goes on to say that “understanding the 
importance of diversity is essential to human literacy” (Aoun 2018, 
59) and that we need to particularly understand ethics in an age of 
machine learning. (Aoun 2018, 60-61)

In short, we need real intelligence more than ever in an age of 
artificial intelligence, and that real intelligence includes strong at-
tention to diversity and ethics, things that matter to the Atla com-
munity. Our attunement to human literacy as theological librarians 
means we can ride out the choppy waves of disruptive technology.

TALK STORY: SUSAN EBERTZ

I was born in Hawai’i and grew up there. The culture is a mixture 
of the various ethnic groups who came to work in Hawai’i or to 
find a better life. Many were brought to work on the sugar and 
pineapple plantations. In order for them to communicate with 
the other ethnic groups, Hawai’i pidgin was born with its own vo-
cabulary and grammar, a conglomeration of the different groups. 
In Hawai’i pidgin we “talk story.” It is a way of passing on wisdom, 
telling funny stories, sharing a bit of ourselves in a casual way, an 
interactive way of creating dialog amongst people of multiple per-
spectives. Sometimes when we pau hana (finish work), we may sit 
around and talk story. I find that talk story is an interactive way of 
creating experiences. It is multi-modal in that we may use different 
ways of communicating. It is trans-cultural because the different 
cultures are describing what they are doing. It uses multiple intel-
ligences because it speaks to the different ways of understanding 
through story telling.

So, now we talk story. Leslie Engelson, a member of the Atla Board 
of Directors, summarized her learning from some First Nations peo-
ple by saying, “The ethos of caring for the heart of the other resonated 
with me as reflecting the true meaning of hospitality. It goes beyond 



POST-CONfERENCE WORkShOP  371

courtesy and respect to treat each person with value.” I was struck 
especially by the words “caring for the heart of the other.” How much 
easier is it to be nice to someone. When we care for the heart of the 
other, we are expressing what true love is. My reaction to our time 
with the First Nations people was to say, “relationships, relationships, 
relationships.” Building relationships is one way of knowing what 
is in the heart of the other. We can create these relationships when 
we talk story: sharing those bits of wisdom, funny stories, and a bit 
of ourselves. They begin to know what is in our heart and we then 
begin to know what is in the heart of the other.

Barriers keep us apart from each other. Sometimes we create 
barriers because someone has hurt us. It’s like a scab protecting a 
wound. Sometimes we create barriers with new people who remind 
us of the person who hurt us. We think that these new people will 
do the exact same thing to hurt us. These barriers are often hard 
to break down. They are ingrained in our response system. Things 
which are familiar are easier to deal with than the unknown. We 
are afraid when those familiar ideas, places, and interactions are 
replaced by new things. It’s hard to build relationships in these situ-
ations. For example, when we physically attend Atla Annual, it is 
sometimes easier for us to hang out with our friends than to meet 
new people.

What’s even harder is to become peacemakers. In Da Jesus Book, 
the dynamic equivalence of Matthew 5:9 is “Da peopo dat help da 
odda peopo come friends again, Dey can stay good inside Cuz God 
goin say, ‘Dey my kids.’” (Wycliffe Bible Translators 2010, 11) If we 
are peacemakers, bringing people together or become friends again, 
we will be called children of God. We will become God’s ohana, help-
ing peopo come friends again. Some of you may have heard of the 
movie, Lilo & Stitch. In it, Lilo says, “Ohana means ‘family.’ Family 
means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.” When I was growing 
up, the neighbor across the street was “aunty,” the guy down the 
block was “uncle.” Though they were not my blood relatives, they 
were my family, my ohana. We are God’s ohana, and we are called 
to bring people together to become friends. The first step, then, is 
building relationships and recognizing that we are already a part 
of the ohana.



372  ATLA 2023 PROCEEDINGS

ATLA DEI EVENTS

IMAGE 1 “Atla DEI Event Timeline”

APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY AND BRAIN SCIENCE: NANCY KIRKPATRICK

When deep respect is present, the energy between people or the tone 
in an environment is palpable. We can see it, feel it, and hear it. It 
touches us. The indicators that respect is a value that is truly lived 
out are in the behaviors and interactions of individuals. People listen 
carefully; they are courteous and patient, inquiring and seeking to 
understand. The pace in our lives has sped up and diversity is enrich-
ing our communities. With that, it seems we need to be even more 
mindful of how we impact others as we rush about. A smile, allow-
ing someone to go ahead of you, showing gratitude for a kindness 
or acknowledgement, and eye contact when appropriate not only 
make you feel more generous to others, but it has a domino effect 
as well. Those to whom we show genuine respect are more likely to 
exhibit similar respectful behaviors and courtesies to others. What 
does it take to make respectful relationships contagious? What is our 
personal role in that?



POST-CONfERENCE WORkShOP  373

We conducted an Appreciative Inquiry. Appreciative Inquiry 
distinguishes itself from other organizational visioning and change 
models by focusing on the best of what is and using this as a platform 
to build future directions. While many traditional methods begin by 
focusing on pitfalls and problems, Appreciative Inquiry asks people 
to explore strengths and successes that already exist, both internally 
and externally. This positive approach leads to extraordinary perfor-
mance by reinforcing relationships and culture, creating common 
vision and direction, promoting learning and innovation, and ener-
gizing collective action.

Why does it work? Science. When we say that words have power, 
we mean it. And science supports it. We focus on positive conversa-
tions for this reason.

Negative conversations trigger the release of stress hormones: 
cortisol, norepinephrine, and testosterone. This results in the need 
to protect “me”:

• Increased blood pressure
• Immune system suppression
• Oxygen and nutrients to the reptilian-complex in the brain 

and the large muscles (fight, flight, freeze, appease)
• Inhibits access to neocortex and pre-frontal lobe, home to 

higher order thinking, creativity, and the ability to connect 
with others

Positive conversations trigger happiness hormones: oxytocin, 
serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins. This results in openness and 
the ability to connect as “we”:

• Enhanced immune system
• Relaxation response
• Oxygen and nutrients flood the entire brain
• Full access to the neocortex and pre-frontal lobe, broaden-

ing and building the capacity for higher order thinking, cre-
ativity, and the ability to connect and bond with others

If we want to come together and work more effectively, it helps 
to literally be in the right mindset to do the work, and Appreciative 
Inquiry is one way to get us there. As a group, we worked through 
the Appreciative Inquiry presented below.



374  ATLA 2023 PROCEEDINGS

FOCUS 1 – STORIES OF RESPECTFUL RELATIONSHIPS: PAIRED INTERVIEWS

1. Consider a service or business encounter you have wit-
nessed or experienced during which you could tell that 
respect for people was a value not only talked about, but ac-
tively lived in this organization.
a. What was your experience of respect about?
b. Describe what was happening.
c. Who was involved?
d. As you recall that story, how did you react? What 

thoughts, feelings and actions did you experience?
e. What was memorable about the respectful experience?

2. What were the indicators that respect was highly valued in 
this business or service organization?
a. Was it the service level, communication, style, language, 

product, courtesy, attention to detail, follow-up, efficien-
cy, respect for their environment?

b. What made the real difference?

FOCUS 2 – INTEGRATION OF THE BEST EXAMPLES

Interview pairs combine to form groups of 4 or 6
3. In your small groups, interviewers will introduce their part-

ners and share the highlights of the stories they heard.
a. As you listen respectfully, what are some of the common 

themes or shared strengths that came out of the stories 
on this topic of Respectful Relationships?

b. Many organizations have respect as a core value: respect 
for employees, customers, or environment, to name a 
few. What else can you identify from your own stories 
about respect as part of the culture?

FOCUS 3 – PROJECTING YOUR BEST EXAMPLES FORWARD

Group size to be determined by number of total participants
4. Imagine you fall into a deep sleep and, when you awaken, 

it is 2023 and you come into the Atla conference to find all 
the best examples of respectful relationships are now being 
practiced. They are fully integrated into your culture and 
organization and demonstrate an uncompromising respect 



POST-CONfERENCE WORkShOP  375

for people and the environment. What would that look like, 
sound like, feel like?
a. Create a scenario or short skit or come up with a meta-

phor or song that shows respectful relationships with 
all your colleagues within the Atla conference environ-
ment.

b. Enjoy yourselves as you present your creativity to other 
groups.

FOCUS 4 – RESPECTING YOUR RELATIONSHIPS

5. What does it take to sustain respectful relationships? For 
example, is it up to individuals, officers, policies, leading by 
example?
a. What would you propose? What new elements can you 

introduce?
b. How would you communicate to others the importance 

of showing respect? What benefits do you envision?
6. What’s been the most valuable things you’ve learned or 

re-learned about respectful relationships as a result of this 
workshop?

7. What are you taking away that will strengthen your respect 
for yourself and for others?



376  ATLA 2023 PROCEEDINGS

THE RESULTS

Once we worked through the Appreciative Inquiry, groups shared 
out their results, which are captured below. 

IMAGE 2 “Common Themes and Strengths”

IMAGE 3 “Affinity Clustering”



POST-CONfERENCE WORkShOP  377

IMAGE 4 “Dream Debrief and Looking Forward”

REFERENCES

Aoun, Joseph. 2018. Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of 
Artificial Intelligence. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Lilo & Stitch. 2002. Directed by Chris Sanders. Walt Disney Home 
Entertainment.

Wycliffe Bible Translators. 2010. Da Jesus Book. Orlando: Wycliffe 
Bible Translators.




