Atla has been awarded an $800,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to develop a federated search solution for supporting research, teaching, and ministry. 

The first of its kind for theological education, this centralized hub will be an open discovery platform that cross-searches a wide range of materials, including a significant number of open access resources, special archives and collections, and institutional histories. It will be designed to serve and support theological education, interdisciplinary research in religion, preaching, and teaching. It is intended especially to make discoverable the at-risk and underrepresented collections and histories held by libraries, archives, organizations, and communities that fully reflect the diversity of contributions in religion and theology in society. 

Dr. Jorge Juan Rodriguez V, Associate Director for Strategic Programming at the Hispanic Scholars Program (HSP), offered profound support of this project: “This innovative initiative is designed to enhance the accessibility of diverse theological and religious collections, expand the curricular offerings, and have easy access to a large database of classroom-ready resources. The HSP is only one of many institutions this platform will serve and help make its own archival materials widely available.”  

“As some theological education moves from graduate education to alternative models and venues, the platform Atla is developing will be critical,” said Dr. Patrick B. Reyes, Dean, Auburn Theological Seminary. “For pastors and religious leaders who have no formal degree or who no longer have formal access to library resources, this will serve them.” 

Through Atla’s mission and expertise, this new discovery solution will significantly enhance how institutional repositories, archives, primary sources, and authoritative open access journals and e-books are cross-searched and accessed.  

“The vision for this platform demonstrates Atla’s commitment to enhancing theological research, education, and practice through collaboration,” said Atla’s Executive Director John F. Kutsko. “Our goal is to make discoverable the diversity of voices and perspectives in religion and theological studies, and to empower researchers, educators, and religious professionals by making a wealth of resources accessible in one hub.” 

Maria Stanton, Atla’s Director of Product Development and Production, notes, “Atla will be able to leverage its technological expertise, subject matter knowledge, and relationships across the landscape to develop and deliver this platform to our partners in theological education and ministry.” 

“The design of this discovery solution is informed by Atla’s deep knowledge of theological librarianship,” continued Gillian Harrison Cain, Atla’s Director of Membership and Engagement. “As connectors of searchers to content, librarians are essential to develop a resource that can be relied on by scholars, researchers, and anyone interested in finding the rich collections of theology and religion materials housed in libraries and archives.”  

The generous support of Lilly Endowment will fund the development of the technology, administrative support, and outreach plan to launch this federated search solution.  

Lilly Endowment Inc. also provided funding for the Day1 project to improve access to sermon archives, in which Atla was a collaborator.  

Read In Trust magazine article by Gregg Brekke, "Configuration: The digital age has splintered the traditional bricks-and-mortar library, calling into question purpose, mission, and longstanding tradition. Atla is advancing a robust vision predicated on expertise, innovation, and the power of convening. Click here to read.