ATS Library Newsletter
March 2020
Greetings Scholars, Theologians, Counselors, and Friends!
We Are Here to Help You!
With the advent of completely online instruction for the remainder of the semester, we want to remind you of resources at your disposal. In the newsletter below, you will find listings of our key databases, eBook collections and resources, and even a few open access resources that may be of use for you in your research.
Furthermore, if you are a current student here and are utilizing our catalog (library.ashland.edu) to view print resources within our collection, during this time when our physical resources are not accessible to you, we are offering scanning services and will send you a PDF of needed sections of materials (for example, commentary on a certain passage of scripture) to your Ashland email account, as long as it adheres to proper copyright guidelines. If you have questions about this process, you may email Sylvia Locher (slocher@ashland.edu) or Daniel O'Brien (dobrien1@ashland.edu) for more information. The ATS librarians will assist with providing their services for physical items as long as they are able to do so.
Additionally, we have extended the due dates for your checked-out materials until the end of the semester. We realize that you are not able to come in and return items in person, and we want to make an effort to help avoid any overdue fines during this time of extraordinary circumstances.
We are grateful for the opportunity to serve you, our seminary community. Please stay safe, and we look forward to seeing all of you again in the future.
Blessings,
The ATS Librarians
Resources for Online Research
Online Research Databases
Atla Religion Database and AtlaSerialsPLUS - These two databases provide a great starting point for research in theological fields. The Atla Religion Database acts as an index, collecting potential resources for you to browse and locate (some of which may or may not be available in full-text), while AtlaSerialsPLUS is a database for searching and using full-text articles from over 220 major religion and theology journals. Thus, AtlaSerialsPLUS provides access to full-text PDFs on many subjects and articles for our theological students.
Instructional video #1: using the AtlaSerialsPLUS database
Instructional video #2: using the AtlaSerialsPLUS database for Scripture passage research
Ministry Matters Research and Legacy Libraries - The Ministry Matters Research and Legacy Libraries include many high-quality reference, preaching, and teaching resources such as the New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, The New Interpreter's Bible, the Believer's Church Bible Commentary, the Abingdon Old and New Testament Commentaries, The Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling, the Interpreting Biblical Texts series, the Works of John Wesley, and many more. The Seminary Library has paid for access to all resources in both Ministry Matters library collections.
Instructional video: using The Ministry Matters Research and Legacy Libraries
Christian Periodical Index - Christian Periodical Index provides indexing for many evangelical Christian journals. Use this in addition to Atla Religion Database and AtlaSerialsPLUS for locating articles on theological and practical theology topics.
Instructional video: using Christian Periodical Index
APA Psycinfo - This database contains over 3 million records devoted to peer-reviewed literature in behavioral sciences and mental health. This is the primary database we direct our counseling and Clinical Mental Health Counseling students to for finding academic journal articles.
Instructional video: using APA Psycinfo
eBooks and eBook Database Collections
Credo Reference IVP Bible Dictionaries - This collection of Bible dictionaries has been widely used and highly recommended by faculty here at Ashland Theological Seminary. Click here for access.
Ashland Theological Seminary eBook Commentaries Guide - These commentaries have been compiled from the offerings within our other ebook databases, but they have been organized here for your easy reference and use. Click here for access.
eBook Central: ProQuest - a collection of more than 500 electronic books from academic publishers.
EBSCO eBook Collection - This is the database from which I have pulled many of the eBook resources in the eBook Commentaries Guide listed above, as well as other subject specific guides. Their collection spans from the 1700s to the present, and is a great resource for finding eBooks on a variety of academic topics.
Instructional video: using EBSCO eBook Collection
OhioLINK Electronic Book Center - OhioLINK Electronic Book Center contains the full text of over 27,000 scholarly works and reference books from several publishers, covering the humanities, sciences, and social sciences.
Open Access Resources
Atla Digital Library: The Atla Digital Library is an open access collaborative database hosted by Atla for sharing digital religion and theological collections.
Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL): The mission of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library is to build up the Church by making classic Christian literature widely available, and promoting its use for edification and study by interested Christians, seekers, and scholars.
HathiTrust Digital Library: HathiTrust is a partnership of academic and research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.
The Internet Archive: The Internet Archive is a nonprofit library of millions of books, movies, software, music, websites, and more. Some items are completely unrestricted, while some items are available to "borrow" after creating your own user account. Using the Internet Archive to browse for reference materials can be helpful; for example, they offer access to many digitized (yet slightly older) Greek Dictionaries, Hebrew Dictionaries, Greek Lexicons, and Hebrew Lexicons.
Open Access Digital Theological Library (OADTL): Curated content in religious studies and related disciplines from publisher websites, institutional repositories, scholarly societies, archives, and stable public domain collections. This resource also contains academic journals, articles, databases, and research aids.
Updates and New Additions
LibGuide Update: Center Specific Resources Tab
Additionally, we have created printable handouts for on-the-go reference for some of these resources. Click a center below for your printable handout:
ATS Cleveland Center Library Resources
LibGuide Update: Chaplaincy Tab Extended Resources
New additions to Atla Religion Database, AtlaSerials, and AtlaSerials PLUS
New Indexing Titles In Atla Religion Database:
Artistic Theologian by School of Church Music at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Christianity in the Middle East by Evgenii Palamarenko
The Journal of Confucian Philosophy and Culture by Sungkyunkwan University
Kader by Kader
Studia Warminskie by Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warminsko-Mazurskiego
WebMosaica by Instituto Cultural Judaico Marc Chagall
New Full-Text Titles in Atlas
Scottish Church History by Edinburgh University Press
New Full-Text Titles in Atlas PLUS
Ching Feng by Christian Study Centre on Chinese Religion and Culture