Resources for Alumni

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 negotiated between the seminaries and the Graduate Theological Union for access through their TRELIS program. For more information, see the announcement.

This includes alumni access to the Atla Religion Database and Atla Serials, historically provided to LSTC and McCormick alumni by JKM.

To register with the GTU for access to the Atla database as an alum of LSTC or McCormick, please use this form.

At present it is unclear whether there are any other services provided through the TRELIS program for alumni of LSTC or McCormick.

For assistance from GTU library staff, going forward, please contact: library@gtu.edu

While the other library services provided to the seminary communities come through the contracts negotiated by the seminaries with the University of Chicago, those agreements carry no privileges for alumni.

However, alumni may access the Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago as guests, by signing in using the tablets set up by the front gates.

Once on-premises, as with many other libraries, access to their online services can be had using the wireless internet or computer terminals. For more information, see their visitor page.

Some electronic service contracts historically maintained by the JKM Library will continue temporarily, as the library services are transitioned over to the new contracts.

Some of the below information may still work during some part of the 2026–27 academic year.

Theology & Religion Online  |  Atla and EBSCO

Open Access  |  Options Beyond JKM

Theology & Religion Online

We offer our alumni access to the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary and Commentaries and the T&T Clark Jesus Library through Bloomsbury's "Theology and Religion Online," using the following links:

(Note: the Anchor Yale is a closed set, not including anything after 2018, or William Foxwell Albright’s commentary on Matthew.)

 

ATLA (and other EBSCO Resources)

Our most commonly-used database, the Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials PLUS, is available for our alumni to access.

In 2024, EBSCO redesigned everything. If you have bookmarks from before then, they may redirect, but please update them to the new links. We also have a 10-minute tutorial video on the changes.

Also, you can now access Atla Scripture Search directly.

If you use the long-unmaintained "The Text This Week" website, please note that its "ATLAS" links will not work with our username and password. While it remains a valuable reference, those links will return an authentication error. Instead, try searching for the author and article title manually.

Many things you can find in the Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials PLUS are available in full-text, whether as PDFs or as HTML versions, but not everything. See our guide for more information.

If the article you want is not available in full-text, click the "Request item" button, fill out the request form, and click "Submit" (copyright limitations apply).

We cannot loan you physical or ebooks, but we will find out whether the material you want is available to JKM, and scan and email it to you if we are able.

You can also search the Atla Historical Monographs Collection, containing page-scanned books from 1300 to 1923 (including some donated to Atla by the old JKM!). To add these to your search, just click on "Searching:" and check the boxes next to Series 1 and Series 2. (These books are very large PDFs, please be patient as they load, it isn't an error. The direct download link is often faster.)

 

Open Access Resources

Open Access resources are created and licensed so they can be offered free of charge to anyone who might want to use them. This is often done with a variety of Creative Commons licenses, in order to maintain that freedom for others.

(Note that "Open Access" is not the same as "Public Domain," and all licensing terms must be obeyed for you to use these works.)

Since JKM staff only curates links to these resources, you don't need a login to access them.

Please see our Open Access Collections section on the Academic E-Resources page, and the curated links under our subject area headings.

 

Options Beyond the JKM Library

There are also many ways to access resources beyond JKM:

  • Register for a free account with JSTOR to read up to 100 free articles a month.
  • Check out Google Scholar. Some articles are paywalled, but many are free.
  • Many scholars have posted select papers up on sites like Academia.edu. Even if they haven't, consider reaching out to them directly, and expressing your interest. Scholars are often happy to share.
  • You can find out what libraries near you have a book you might want using WorldCat.
  • In the U.S., you can visit the library of your local community college, or state college or university. Many offer community borrowing privileges, if you live nearby.
  • While at your local community college, or state college or university, if you can connect to their wifi, you should be able to access their databases.
  • Some U.S. states, such as Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin, provide statewide access to many databases for all public library card holders. Contact your local public librarian to find out what might be available to you.