The American Theological Library Association (Atla) is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3), professional association, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Atla's member libraries and librarians provide resources for scholarly research to tens of thousands of students, faculty, staff, and administrators. The association supports the membership with services and products, including an annual conference, members-only publications and discounts, and professional development opportunities. Mission The mission of Atla is to foster the study of theology and religion by enhancing the development of theological and religious studies libraries and librarianship. Established in 1946, Atla is governed by an elected board of directors and has over 800 individual, institutional, and affiliate members. History The first step toward the creation of Atla came at the 1946 biennial meeting of the American Association of Theological Schools when presidents and deans in attendance asked the AATS executive committee to call a conference of theological librarians. In June 1947, fifty theological librarians, one president, and one dean met in Louisville, Kentucky, to organize a permanent association and plan the future agenda of the American Theological Library Association. The group identified six major areas to address and assigned responsibilities for them: 1. AATS Booklist, 2. Cataloging and Classification, 3. Periodical Exchange, 4. Periodical Indexing, 5. Publications, and 6. Training of Personnel. Programs developed rapidly in the new Association, including the following milestones: 1952: The Committee on Religious Periodical Indexing coordinated the efforts of twenty libraries to create the first volume of the Index to Religious Periodical Literature (later Religion Index One: RIO). 1957: A Board of Index was established and a Board of Microtext was organized to pursue the preservation of library materials. 1961-1966: The Atla Library Development Program, funded by the Sealantic Fund, provided more than $1,300,000 in book and professional development funds to nearly ninety participating institutions. 1976: The first volume of Religion Index Two: Multi-Author Works (RIT) was published, later supplemented by a Festschriften (1960–1969) volume prepared by Elmer and Betty O'Brien and RIT: Multi-Author Works, 1970-1975. 1980-1984: the Lilly Foundation funded Project 2000, a study to reassess the role of libraries in theological education. 1981: The Atla Religion Database first became available online, providing an electronic version of the print indexes. 1985: the ATLA’s Monograph Preservation Program started to film and preserve more than 3,200 journals and 30.000 core titles concerning theology and religion practice of the 19th and 20th centuries. As of 2020, the Atla Historical