Atla Annual 2025

Sensitivity readers have been utilized by authors, editors, and publishers for some time, but have gained the attention of the press in recent years. Seen by some as polarizing, a sensitivity reader is asked to identify parts of a written text that may be perceived as inappropriate or harmful to some readers, particularly those identifying with underrepresented populations. While this practice is more commonly associated with fiction writing, scholarly publishers are beginning to incorporate the practice. Members of the Books@Atla Open Press editorial board will reflect on their experiences with feedback from a sensitivity reader and how they are incorporating this practice into their editorial workflow.

Learning Outcome

Attendees will learn about sensitivity reading, what it is and how it is done. They will also learn about how sensitivity reading is applied to writing on librarianship, theology, and religious studies. We also seek to educate attendees on the Books@Atla Open Press editorial workflow in a more detailed setting that will not be possible in the joint Atla Open Press editor-in-chief panel.

Audience Engagement

While this will be a presentation of information, we hope to facilitate discussion among attendees about the merits of sensitivity reading and how this practice may be further tailored for our scholarly field of theological and religious studies librarianship. We are very interested in listening and receiving feedback from attendees about what is important to them about sensitivity reading.

Securing funding for Open Educational Resources (OER) and digitization projects can be a
transformative opportunity for theological libraries. The Scholarly Communications and Digital Initiatives Committee will hold a panel of successful past grant recipients to discuss their challenges and lessons learned in the process of both applying for the Atla grants, and successfully completing their projects. Together this panel will explore the complexities of navigating funding applications, institutional priorities, and project logistics.

Learning Outcome


Audience Engagement

The attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions from the panelists through the open Q&A and will also be invited to participate in some interactive polling to understand their familiarity with the Atla grants.

The paper discusses how learners’ epistemological beliefs may have impacts on their learning progress and their attitudes to learning-related activities (Hofer, 2004). Epistemological beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing are known to facilitate or constrain learners’ understanding, reasoning, thinking, learning, and achievement (Conley et al., 2004).

In particular, this paper focuses on the impacts of learners’ epistemological beliefs on instructional practice that means teaching-related activities. The assumption is that learners’ beliefs about knowing may influence their attitudes towards every aspect of their learning and teaching-related activities. The learners’ epistemological beliefs may also be affected and adjusted by the instructional practice they experienced.

This paper proposes that understanding learners’ epistemological beliefs is beneficial for an institute that includes teachers and libraries both. The library, who is not only a collector of resources but also becoming a learning-related service provider is better aware of these beliefs. Whatever programs and activities a library offers will be utilized the best when a library knows the learners the most.

Specifically, this paper demonstrates different research studies including the author’s. Rooted in the field of social science, their purposes focused on how explicitly a learner’s epistemological beliefs shape their perception related to learning and how they accept certain activities as learning experiences. And the studies found that (1)those with a broader epistemological belief tend to grasp a more comprehensive perception of learning and (2) those with a broader epistemological belief tend to find a typical daily event more meaningful.

Finally, the paper discusses how the findings in those studies can be applicable and helpful to the libraries in the field of religious and theological education that is facing so many changes and challenges.

Learning Outcome

As a librarian's job is to collect knowledge, to connect resources, and to help teachers and learners, this topic, while not the most practical, should be able to offer insights that will help librarians' contextual understanding deeper and richer.

Audience Engagement

Frequent interaction through questions and answers will be made during the talk.

Librarians are constantly being asked to do more with less, especially when it comes to maintaining library collections on a reduced budget. One way that librarians can increase their periodical collections without spending more on journal subscriptions is by adding open access (OA) journals to their library’s holdings. But how does one identify and evaluate what is available? In his Atla Annual 2021 Listen and Learn session titled “Open Access Religious Resources for your Students,” Jeff Siemon shared his collection of approximately 800 OA religion journals. Siemon inspired me to create my own collection of Catholic OA religion journals, i.e. journals of religion and/or theology published by Catholic institutions and/or containing primarily Catholic content. Later that year, I presented my collection of 146 journals at the Catholic Library Association’s Fall Conference. Four years later, my collection has nearly doubled. I will describe how I found these journals, highlighting specific journal indexes, including a comparison between the Directory of Open Access Journals and the Atla Religion Database. I also present updated analyses of journals by continent and country, by language, and by subject, highlighting remarkable trends. Lastly, I will discuss gaps and challenges in the Catholic OA religion journal publishing landscape.

Learning Outcome

Attendees will gain a greater awareness of what Catholic OA religion journals are currently available.

Audience Engagement

I will engage the audience primarily through charts breaking down the collection by continent and country, language, and subject, presented as slides.

Eager to participate in scholarly conversation and circulate your ideas among a growing readership? The Editors-in-Chief from Books, Theological Librarianship, and TCB will share how you can publish with Atla Open Press. They will present on the scope of each of their publications, demystify the proposal process, share what happens during editing, and offer tips on what makes a successful publication.

Learning Outcome

Attendees will have a greater understanding of Atla Open Press and will receive encouragement to consider writing, editing, and publishing to further their professional development and contribute to the guild.

Audience Engagement

Each EIC will be responsible for their own portion of the panel. Engagement may take the form of slide shows, live Press website demonstrations, audience polling, and audience questions.