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Day Three of the ATLA Annual Conference was a short one. After checking out of the hotel, I got on a shuttle to Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Another unique thing about the ATLA conference is that they have a day on the host campuses, which among other things, gives attendees a chance to poke around their libraries :). This year, half the day was at LPTS and the other half was at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Since I took the shuttle to the airport from LPTS, I didn’t get to experience the other campus.

Our time at LPTS started with a chapel service, which included memorials to previous members, and then continued with a great brunch and the opportunity to view the campus and tour the library. I had a chance to note a few books they had in their reference department that I didn’t recognize.

The first floor of their reference area was all “B” call numbers, with all the other call numbers being on the level above.

The only session for the day was another panel, “Great Underappreciated and Much Needed Works of Theological Reference.” The panelists presented several lists of reference works, or sections of larger works, that are not usually considered while doing reference for religious studies, such as Guide to the Sources of Medieval History (historical outlines, papal edicts) or International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Again, there was a long bibliography for this presentation, so I have some catalog searching to do! The moderator for this session was David Mayo, from Union-PSCE in Charlotte, who I had been wanting to meet with at some point during the conference. David is heading up the planning committee for the 2013 conference in Charlotte, and I am hoping to be involved with their committee.

Overall, I really enjoyed being back at the ATLA conference. I made some good connections, got some good ideas from the presentations, and some good catalogs and titles to order! Hopefully I’ll be back next year in Chicago!