For Alumni

Find Journal Articles

Journal articles give you focused information about a particular topic, and are often the best way to get the most up-to-date research. They are excellent sources for doing original research on a topic, and are also a great complement to what you find in commentaries.

• ATLA Serials – You may remember using the ATLA Religion Database (the premier index in the field of religion) as a student. Now as an alumnus of Covenant Seminary, the Library provides to you access to the full-text portion of that database, know as ATLA Serials (ATLAS). Whether you're in New York City or Timbuktu, you can search for articles, essays, and reviews based on topic or Scripture citation, and get the full-text of what you find right on your computer screen. Log in to the Portal for access.
• Free Databases – Every so often we stumble across a free online database that's relevant to the greater Seminary community. Check out what we've found so far. If you know of one we don't have listed, feel free to pass it along.

Find Books

Books are valuable tools for continuing education. Their comprehensive nature can help you learn about new subjects or provide you with greater depth of understanding for subjects you have already studied.

• Covenant Seminary Library Catalog – Although you may not live close enough to the Covenant Seminary Library to visit us in person, our catalog is a powerful research tool for finding high quality books. Our collection is maintained by a staff of theological librarians and is designed to serve the diverse needs of students studying theology, Bible, counseling, and education. It is a treasure trove of valuable resources, so dig in.
• WorldCat.org – Once you find it in our catalog (or if you want to broaden your search to a worldwide scale), search the world's largest library catalog—WorldCat. Combining the catalogs of nearly every library in the United States and many libraries around the world into one database, WorldCat.org will track down the book that you're looking for and find it in a library near you.
• Research in Ministry (RIM) – Doctoral degree dissertations from schools of theology accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada.

Resource Guides

• Covenant Seminary Library Subject and Resource Guides – The Covenant Seminary Library maintains a variety of subject and commentary guides, which highlight important books and reference works.
• Wabash Center Internet Guide – An excellent annotated guide to electronic resources on the Internet related to the study and practice of religion. Includes syllabi, electronic texts, electronic journals, Web sites, bibliographies, liturgies, reference resources, software, etc.
• Congregational Resouce Guide – Provides hundreds of annotated resource recommendations that address the specific, practical needs of congregations and their leaders. Includes articles, Web sites, news sources, organizations, books, periodicals, special reports, online topical explorations, learning pathways, etc.
• Review of Biblical Literature – Presents reviews of books in biblical studies and related fields. A project of the Society of Biblical Literature.

Using Your Local Library

Although your local public library may not have a finely honed theology section, it is still a valuable resource for your research needs. Libraries like to share, so any book or article that you need can most likely be obtained by your public library through Interlibrary Loan—usually at no or little cost. Just take the complete citation (title, author, source, date, pages, etc. as applicable) to the the Reference Librarian and ask about requesting the item through Interlibrary Loan. Be aware, however, that an Interlibrary Loan request can take up to two weeks to arrive in most places, so put your requests in early.

Tips and Suggestions

• Ask about ILL at your library's reference desk, not at the circulation desk (the place where you check out your books). The reference librarians are typically the ones who handle ILL requests for the library.
• If your local library is part of a library system (e.g., a county-wide public library with several branches), take your requests to the Headquarters or Main Branch. The headquarters is usually the hub through which your ILL items will travel, and it can sometimes take as long for an item to make its way between the headquarters and your branch as it does for the item to get to the headquarters from the lending library. The staff at the headquarters may also be more knowledgeable about the various services that are available to you.
• Introduce yourself to the librarian that handles ILL at your library. Explain who you are and what you are doing and ask what would make it easier for them. Even this small attempt to get to know them will put a face with your name and often will bring better service from your library.

See also: About Interlibrary Loan

Using the Covenant Seminary Library

Alumni who live in the St. Louis area are welcome to use the Covenant Seminary Library. Ask at the circulation desk to get a free Alumni card, so that you can check out books from our collection. Also, feel free to make use of any of our electronic resources while you're on campus. Unfortuatly, we cannot extend to you MOBIUS or ILL borrowing priveledges, nor off-campus access to electronic resources besides ATLA Serials.