The seminaries historically served by the JKM Library are transitioning to a new set of online services for the 2026–27 academic year.
These services will be provided by a partnership the seminaries have negotiated with the Graduate Theological Union for access through their TRELIS program. For more information, see the announcement.
Please contact library@gtu.edu for services information. Sessions will be available at seminary orientations—please attend!
Physical collection and interlibrary loan access will now be through the seminaries' existing partnership with the University of Chicago. Please contact Dr. Anne Knafl for assistance.
The JKM Library no longer holds any physical items, and our access to the I-Share network maintained by the CARLI consortium is ending. Certain electronic resources will remain available as contracts expire, to be replaced by TRELIS services.
However, while we are still in the I-Share systems, current JKM patrons can visit CTU's Bechtold Library on the 5th floor to apply for local borrowing with your seminary ID. In the future, or if you are not registered with JKM, this will also require an ACTS card.
Like JKM, the GTU uses OpenAthens logins for all of their services. If your name has been submitted by your seminary for TRELIS access, they will be creating a login for you.
However, because your JKM OpenAthens login currently uses your email address, for this academic year GTU is setting up a separate system.
When you get to the OpenAthens login screen for GTU, you will be selecting "Login with Library Barcode."
One advantage is that this login will work in the same browser windows where you may already be using JKM's OpenAthens login; the system will detect that JKM's login does not work for the GTU resource, and direct you to this login screen appropriately.
GTU Library staff will be emailing you with instructions to set up your library barcode, using your seminary ID number.
You will set up your own password, which you can change from the patron information screen in GRACE as needed.
Links for TRELIS Services
The following links will help you access the new TRELIS services provided by GTU:
- GRACE, GTU's Library Catalog
- SUMMON, searching GRACE and GTU's electronic resources
- List of GTU's Electronic Resources
- Find an Electronic Journal
- Interlibrary Loan Request Form
- Request a Scan from GTU's Library Shelves
JKM Library Status
Since the 2023 sale of the original LSTC building at 1100 E 55th St, the JKM Library has maintained its physical collections and office space in partnership with the staff of the Lapp Learning Commons at Chicago Theological Seminary. We have operated regular weekly delivery of books from JKM and our I-Share partners, provided electronic services and support, and have even served as intermediaries with the University of Chicago's Regenstein Library and its resources, to ensure that whether we own what you request or not, you can get what you need.
Due to the closure of the CTS building at 1407 E 60th St, and its impending return to the University of Chicago to be remodeled for other uses, that partnership has unfortunately come to an end. We are proud of the work we accomplished together, and our heartfelt thanks go to Yasmine Abou-El-Kheir, Roger Morales, and their staffs. We wish them well in the challenging times ahead.
The JKM Library Trust, having explored other options, was unfortunately compelled by the short timeframe, lack of other storage options, and limited fiscal resources, to divest itself of the remaining physical collections held by the JKM Library.
The LSTC and McCormick boards approved this divestiture, favoring a new and entirely electronic partnership for services, alongside the agreement for expanded services with the University of Chicago Library arranged in 2023. Current affiliates at LSTC and McCormick will retain access to the physical collections at Regenstein, as well as the auxiliary services that go with them, and can access the University's electronic services as a guest while visiting Regenstein.
The new services for the 2026–27 year have been negotiated with the Graduate Theological Union in California, which developed its TRELIS program in cooperation with Atla precisely in order to help provide library resource access to small seminaries that otherwise cannot afford the investment required. With this new agreement comes remote access to librarians at GTU's Hewlett Library in Berkeley, and Atla Reciprocal Borrowing status as a GTU member. Together as JKM, LSTC and McCormick represent the largest addition to this excellent and growing program, and while there will be some growing pains, we look forward to working together.
Unfortunately, the surrender of our approximately 34,000 physical volumes, and staffing to operate that lending collection, means the loss of our status as a library for the purposes of the State of Illinois. With that comes the loss of our ILLINET services contract, our ability to maintain our status as a Governing Member in CARLI, and our access to CARLI's I-Share network, with its over 38 million items representing over 15 million titles across more than 90 Illinois academic libraries and museums. This is a profound and regrettable loss, and JKM is working with GTU librarians on expanding collection development to meet your needs.
The expiring JKM service contracts, already in place for the 2026–27 academic year, do allow for some graceful degradation of service. We will be ending I-Share borrowing, and the status of our EBSCO contracts is still being negotiated, but many of our databases from CARLI and the State of Illinois will remain available, as will our ProQuest ebooks. Anyone with a JKM OpenAthens login should be able to continue accessing those services into the spring semester, when they will be expiring.
Because there is significant redundancy between our JKM electronic services and the new services provided by the GTU through the TRELIS program, the remaining contracts JKM has held will be allowed to expire at the ends of their terms, throughout the coming year. We encourage you to attend orientation events and learn how to use the many new or expanded resources available from this new partnership.
The JKM Library is the library for McCormick Theological Seminary and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. JKM is the only library providing access to I-Share and full access to electronic resources for McCormick and LSTC students, faculty and staff.
We currently house around 34,000 books in controlled storage in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, and provide access to over 600,000 electronic books and a wide range of database resources.
As patrons of JKM, members of the McCormick and LSTC communities also have access to our partner libraries in the ACTS and I-Share consortia. Through the seminaries, our patrons have auxiliary access to the physical collections of the University of Chicago Libraries.
The JKM Library also provides services to the other ACTS seminaries in Chicago, and to many other libraries throughout the state of Illinois using the ILDS and RAILS systems. And through OCLC WorldShare, we offer scanning services for our physical collections to libraries all over the world.
