Lessons Learned in Setting Up Atla’s New Online Institutional Repository (ir.atla.com)

In 2023, Atla launched a new online, open access Institutional Repository (IR) for theological schools (ir.atla.com). In this Listen & Learn session, audience members had the opportunity to learn about this IR platform and IRs in general from the librarian who manages Atla’s IR, as well as two library directors who have used Atla’s platform to build electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) repositories for their institutions. Christy Karpinski, the Atla Digital Initiatives Librarian, provided an overview of Atla’s IR platform and its capabilities. Yasmine Abou-El-Kheir and John Dechant (Library Directors at the Chicago Theological Seminary and Meadville Lombard Theological School, respectively) detailed their experiences in subscribing to the platform and using it to advance their schools’ institutional goals and mission statements. The three presenters showed how Atla’s IR looks and functions, as well as how it can improve the impact of students’ scholarship and the visibility of the institution. Audience members learned strategies for successfully proposing an IR to school leaders and gained insights into different workflows for building and maintaining an ETD program.