Services and Policies

The Concordia Seminary library participates regularly with other libraries across the country in lending and borrowing of materials in order to provide our own students and faculty with resources that we do not own ourselves. Likewise, as an interlibrary lender, the library is able to provide materials for the study and understanding of Lutheranism beyond the boundaries of Seminary and Synod. We enjoy excellent relationships with numerous other seminaries and schools of theology, with college and university libraries, and with major public libraries. And in nearly every instance, we are able to procure a book or a photocopy of a journal article at no cost to the end user.

Concordia Seminary students wishing to request an item via InterLibrary Loan (ILL) should contact the Circulation Desk.at 314-505-7030 or [email protected] Be sure to provide a complete bibliographic information (author, title, publisher, date) of the work desired. Also, patrons should plan ahead to allow adequate time for materials to be shipped and received. A typical time frame for a book is two weeks; for photocopied articles, one week is not unusual.

Concordia Seminary students faculty and staff can access key library research tools from anywhere via the internet.

SemNet access (login required) allows current students, faculty and staff to remotely connect to many of the library’s electronic databases, e.g., MOBIUS, JSTOR, EEBO, ProQuest Dissertations/Thesis, Chicago Manual Style, BBLK, WorldCat/FirstSearch, ATLA Religion Database with ATLAS full text, New Testament Abstracts, Old Testament Abstracts, Academic Search Elite (full text), EBSCO E-journals (full text), Religious and Theological Abstracts, National Periodical Library, INdex Theologicus, Luthers Werke (Weimar Ausgabe) Online and Research in Ministry.

Because access to this library requires a username and password to login to the SemNet, the tools can be used only by members of the Seminary community, thus satisfying our legal obligations and database use licenses. Access for walk-in patrons is available on library computers.

The SemNet access provides library research tools to faculty traveling overseas, to vicars on assignment, to Seminary students in distance programs such as SMP, EIIT, CHS and the D.Min. program, as well as students in residence who simply wish to access these tools from off campus.

The library reference desk welcomes inquiries from students and scholars in the areas of religion, theology and ministry. Our reference desk is staffed primarily by selected students in the Seminary’s advanced degree programs, overseen and assisted by Public Services.

If you wish to submit a question or inquiry to our reference staff, please email us with the following information:

• Name
• Contact information (phone, email, etc., as you prefer)
• User category (student, faculty, LCMS pastor, other, etc.)
• Your question, worded as carefully and specifically as possible
• A date by which response is needed. We can’t guarantee the timetable, but we will make every effort to meet your need and keep you informed of progress.

 
Telephone inquiries also are welcome and, in fact, are in some ways more advantageous, since these give us the real-time opportunity to converse about your inquiry and thus better understand how we can best help. Contact the reference desk at 314-505-7030.

Seminary students who are in distance learning programs, on a nonlocal vicarage or internship, or otherwise legitimately outside the St. Louis region during their program of study.

Rostered LCMS church workers who live outside the St. Louis bi-state region (i.e., outside the 620xx, 622xx, 630xx, 631xx, and 633xx ZIP codes).

All other users should pursue interlibrary borrowing through their local library to request our materials from a distance.

Only books can be borrowed via direct distant lending. The due date is extended from the normal four weeks to six weeks to allow for transit in both directions. Note that the library does not normally lend materials internationally.

Requests may be made via email or by calling the extension services desk at 314-505-7030. There is no cost for this service except the cost for the borrower to return the materials to the library. Items must be returned via UPS (preferred) or Priority Mail for tracking purposes.

Allow adequate time for materials to be shipped and received. Typical time frames: books (UPS, four to six days); photocopied article (USPS, one week).

Loan periods, due dates and renewals of materials borrowed via ILL are at the discretion of the lending library.

Libraries wishing to borrow from Seminary library should submit an online request through OCLC’s web-based resource sharing module in the FirstSearch/WorldCat online searching service.

Alumni may access ATLASerials® (ATLAS®), an online database with full texts of more than 100 major religious and theological journals selected by leading scholars and theologians. Research the history of a topic from as early as 1924 to the present through a combined total of more than 200,000 articles and book reviews.

To request access to ATLAS®, contact [email protected].