In 2021, the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary received a Lilly Grant to enhance the training of urban pastors. One objective was to create an open access special bibliography showcasing the scholarship of Ethnic/Minority authors in theology to support pastoral pedagogy. The Andrews Bibliography of Ethnic/Minority Scholarship in Theology (ABEST) uses a dedicated Koha library catalog platform to list academic publications by BIPOC authors who were faculty at ATS institutions (2022-23 academic year). The database links each record to library resources, databases, publisher, and/or WorldCat. Each entry is tagged to a broad curriculum taxonomy and simple subject terms.
In 2023, I received a faculty research grant from the Andrews University Office of Scholarly Research to develop a bibliography showcasing and archiving publications pertaining to the archaeological work sponsored by Andrews University at Hisban, Jordan. This year, we are developing a new Koha bibliography that will include not only entries for these publications, but also photographs, field notes, and other cultural objects from over fifty years of excavations. Entries for publications link to library resources, databases, publisher, and/or WorldCat. Non-print media link to the institutional repository.
The presentation will demonstrate the databases, discuss the reasons for choosing Koha, and share lessons learned on uploading content into the databases.
Learning Outcome
An innovative use of an open-source library catalog for showcasing specialist bibliographies that can be a work in progress indefinitely.
Audience Engagement
Live demo of databases, with time for questions and discussion.
