Access to the JKM Library
The JKM Library is the library for McCormick Theological Seminary and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. We operate under a board run jointly by both seminaries, and our services are paid for by both seminaries, to enable research and course support for their students, faculty, and staff.
The JKM Library is a closed-stacks library, providing delivery of requested JKM and I-Share materials to the 4th floor (LSTC) of the shared campus building at 5416 S Cornell Ave in Hyde Park. We are also the only library providing access to I-Share and full access to electronic resources for McCormick and LSTC students, faculty, and staff.
We provide three tiers of borrowing privileges for our local patrons, and supply interlibrary loans for non-affiliates at partner libraries within the State of Illinois.
For more information on how to use our services, see our orientation tutorial.
How Do I Access the JKM Library?
Your access to all JKM Library resources, physical or electronic, is enabled using OpenAthens, our single-sign-on platform. This is the online equivalent of your library card, and is associated with your JKM Library account.
With your OpenAthens login, you can use our online catalog to place requests for books from JKM or any of the nearly 100 I-Share libraries throughout the state of Illinois. It also enables your access to all of JKM's ebooks and databases.
However! To use our resources, and the resources of our partner libraries, you must first be registered with the JKM Library.
Registering for JKM Library Access
Registration with the JKM Library is not automatic.
For most of our existence, the JKM Library had relied on students, faculty, and staff to come to the library of their own free will, and register to use our services, or not.
Since 2023, the JKM Library relies on the seminaries to send us information on each student or faculty or staff member, so that we can create a library account for them, and provide them with an OpenAthens login.
This does not always work perfectly. You might not already have a library account, or you might not have an OpenAthens login associated with your library account. Or, if you do, you might not already know about it.
However, we are here for you! Please email us at ihaveaquestion@jkmlibrary.org and we will make sure you get a library account and an OpenAthens login.
Current Students (all degree programs and cross-registrants)
Prior to the beginning of each semester, the JKM Library receives spreadsheets from the registrars of both McCormick and LSTC, listing all new and cross-registered students taking classes at each seminary.
JKM Library staff go through these lists, create JKM Library accounts and OpenAthens logins for each new student, and send each student a welcome email with their login credentials and a brief introduction to our services.
You will be registered at tier 1 or 2 for local borrowing, depending on your program enrollment.
If you do not receive a "Welcome to the JKM Library" email from us at the start of your first semester, or if your OpenAthens login does not work, or stops working for any reason: please use your seminary email address to contact us at ihaveaquestion@jkmlibrary.org, and we will get you set up with everything you need!
Current Faculty Members (all levels including emeriti/ae and institutional presidents)
The administration of your seminary should provide your information to the JKM Library, for us to create your JKM Library account and OpenAthens login.
This should happen when you are hired, and we should also be informed when you are teaching a class. However, this does not always happen. (Nor do we have any special access to course prospecti or syllabi.)
Please contact us at ihaveaquestion@jkmlibrary.org and we will make sure you get a library account and an OpenAthens login.
You will be registered at tier 2 or 3 for local borrowing, depending on your faculty status.
We are also happy to consult with you as you do your course planning, to ensure that as many of the materials on your syllabi as possible can be available to you and your students without having to purchase them retail.
If you do not consult with us prior to the start of semester, we will not know what you need, and we cannot make any guarantees about availability.
Faculty bear all responsibility for texts they assign. We will provide whatever help we can when asked.
Current Seminary Staff Members
Even if you're not doing research or taking classes or teaching, the JKM Library is here for you! In addition to our religion resources, we have a wide variety of other electronic resources, and through I-Share you can borrow all sorts of things!
The administration of your seminary should provide your information to the JKM Library, for us to create your JKM Library account and OpenAthens login. This should happen when you are hired, but it does not always happen.
Please contact us at ihaveaquestion@jkmlibrary.org and we will make sure you get a library account and an OpenAthens login.
You will be registered at tier 1 for local borrowing.
Alumni
The JKM Library used to offer an ongoing level of borrowing privileges to graduates of McCormick or LSTC.
However, we cannot provide you with OpenAthens access, and since our downsizing and move in 2023, we have no way to provide you with borrowing privileges.
We do continue to provide alumni with an ongoing level of access to our electronic resources, using usernames and passwords that change annually.
Please see our separate page on resources for alumni, and contact us at ihaveaquestion@jkmlibrary.org to get the current usernames and passwords for those services.
Non-affiliates at our partner libraries
The JKM Library used to offer walk-in access to patrons of all of our fellow ACTS seminaries, patrons at any I-Share library, and patrons of the University of Chicago Libraries.
However, since our downsizing and move to closed stacks in an access-controlled building in 2023, we unfortunately no longer have a physical space in which to welcome you.
While you are not eligible for borrowing privileges, we do deliver books and other materials through ILDS to other I-Share and RAILS libraries. This includes requests made through OCLC.
Patrons of other I-Share libraries can already borrow any physical item we have available from their own library's catalog. If we have a copy of something you're looking for, it will show up when you search all I-Share libraries, and you can place a request.
If you aren't at an I-Share member library, think of us as one possible source for interlibrary loans. Work with your own library's ILL department to find anything you want! If we have it, when your request gets to us, we will loan to your library, who will loan the book to you. For more details, see the ILL section of our page on borrowing privileges.
Electronic resource access for patrons of other institutions is generally offered through physical access to the library, and its wifi. We do not currently have an alternate solution to this problem.
