ATLA Tutorial

American Theological Library Association (ATLA) Religion Database (RDB)
and ATLA Serials (ATLAS) Tutorial

Purpose: This tutorial is intended to give an overview to those seeking to search the ATLA RDB through Covenant Theological Seminary (via OCLC FirstSearch). It is intended to cover the basics of navigation in the database as well as some basic searches.

Topics Covered:

• Introduction -- what is the ATLA RDB and ATLAS.
• Access -- how to access them through the Covenant Seminary Library.
• Searching -- how to find articles and essays on a topic or biblical passage
  • General Searching -- basic searching of the databases
  • Scripture Citation Searching -- searching for articles on a particular Bible passage
• The Display -- understanding what you see
• Obtaining Material -- how to get a hold of what you find

Introduction:

The ATLA Religion Database is an essential tool for the study of religion. It is the premier index to journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion. The fact that many publishers solicit the inclusion of their journals in ATLA RDB is indicative of the stature it has achieved in the community of religion scholars.

The more than 1,315,000 records in the ATLA Religion Database include:

• 429,900 journal articles (including more than 5,000 RIP records)
• 203,800 essays from 15,300 multi-author works (a number of Religion Index Two annuals were migrated to Religion Index One and this accounts for the temporary drop in the number of essays)
• 404,900 book reviews of 196,100 books
• 1,577 journal titles; 645 of which are currently indexed
• languages: 59% English, 9% German, 6% French, 1% Spanish, 1% Italian, 24% Other

Journals are selected for inclusion according to their scholarly merit and scope. Journals representing all the major religious faiths, major denominations, and numerous language groups are included. A title list of all journals included in the ATLA RDB may be found on the ATLA web site (www.atla.com/products/titles/titles_rdb/titles_rdb_2006.html).

ATLA's indexing of multi-author works, such as Festschriften and conference proceedings, is unique among religion databases. Unlike indexes that catalog books of essays as a single entry, ATLA indexes each individual essay in such works.

ATLAS is an online collection of major religion and theology journals selected by leading religion scholars and theologians. Users can read articles or research the history of a topic from 1949 to the present. Currently, researchers are able to use ATLA Serials as a search tool to retrieve images of the pages in more than fifty different journals.

In the second phase, page images will be supplemented with fully searchable texts of the articles (XML). Furthermore, during the second phase, images and indexing coverage will be extended back to the original publication date of each journal.

Currently ATLAS contains more than 100,000 full-text records. A title list of all journals included in ATLAS may be found on the ATLA web site (http://www.atla.com/products/titles/titles_atlas.html).

Access:

Access to the databases is limited to students, faculty, and staff of Covenant Theological Seminary. Others may use the databases by using one of the computers available in the Covenant Seminary Library building.

Covenant Seminary students simply need their last name and their campus ID number. Your campus ID number can be found on your student ID card. You must enter the entire number (including the "A") and remember to enter "CS" on the end.

Should you have difficulties gaining access, please contact the Library at 314.392.4100 or e-mailing library@covenantseminary.edu.