As part of the Library Without Walls  initiative, we are pleased to offer two new Research Portals for remote access to electronic resources.  If you are a Library member who is not a current student, faculty or staff person or an affiliated alum, please click HERE.

ALUMNI RESEARCH PORTAL

This portal incorporates the ATLAS FOR ALUMS service that many alumni already use, but adds an expansion called ATLAS Plus (for a total of over 500 full-text e-journals), the JSTOR Religion and Theology e-journals archive, and millions of e-books and documents being digitized by libraries around the world.  These materials have been compiled into an authorized database just for our alumni, so the results will be delivered to you every time you make a search.

In addition, we can now provide alumni with the following resources through separate links (see below): the Anchor Yale Bible commentary series and dictionary, Hermeneia  biblical commentary series, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Collected Works online and a collection of downloadable audiobooks through Overdrive.

Alumni of Union, PSCE and BTSR are eligible to login remotely with their existing account credentials (barcode and PIN). Your barcode is the number printed on your Library card, and your PIN is the first three letters of your last name.

To log into the Alumni Research Portal, click the red button below.

Alumni Research Portal
Click Here to Login

If you haven’t yet set up your free, lifetime Alumni account, you can apply for one using these online forms :

Patron Registration Page — Richmond Campus

Patron Registration Page — Charlotte Campus

For a concise summary of the life-long library privileges that are available to alumni account holders, Click Here.

Additional Information and Direct Links to Alumni Resources :

Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries — Includes over 86 volumes and is one of the most trusted and long-running scholarly commentaries series for Biblical Studies scholars.

Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary — A well respected six-volume contemporary dictionary of the Bible offering the most up-to-date and comprehensive treatment of biblical subjects and topics.

ATLAS Plus for Alums — Contains the searchable full-text e-journals content of the ATLA Religion Database, with over 500 of the most important journals in all fields of religious studies.

2023 Bloomsbury Biblical Studies Collection — Includes over thirty eBook titles from scholarly series such as The Library of New Testament Studies, The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies, T&T Clark Social Identity Commentaries on the New Testament, International Critical Commentary and more!

NEW! 2024 Bloomsbury Biblical Studies Collection — Includes over thirty eBook titles from scholarly series such as The Library of New Testament Studies, The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies, T&T Clark Handbooks, T&T Clark International Theological Commentary and more!

NEW! Bloomsbury Environment Studies — Includes 19 Bloomsbury academic eBook titles focusing on climate change, environmental ethics, nature and more.

The Context of Scripture (Brill)  — Presents the multi-faceted world of ancient writing that forms the colorful background to the literature of the Hebrew Bible.

Continental Commentaries (Fortress) — This commentary series brings together leading critical biblical scholarship from German and French scholars available to the English-speaking world.  Includes 7 volumes available in eBook format.

Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Brill) — Contains academic articles on the named gods, angels, and demons in the books of the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint and Apocrypha, as well as the New Testament and patristic literature.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Collected Works (Fortress) — Click here for direct links to each volume.

NEW! Eerdmans Bible Commentaries: New Testament — Contains 54 authoritative commentaries offering insights on every book of the New Testament from leading international scholars. Includes titles from The New International Commentary on the New Testament, The Eerdmans Critical Commentary, The Pillar New Testament Commentary and Two Horizons New Testament Commentary series.

NEW! Eerdmans Bible Commentaries: Old Testament — Comprises 79 authoritative commentaries offering insights from leading international scholars and world-class Bible authorities on each book of the Old Testament. Includes tiles from The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, The Eerdmans Critical Commentary, International Theological Commentary and more.

NEW! Eerdmans Digital Reference Library — The Eerdmans Digital Reference Library comprises 43 fundamental reference works indispensable for any student or scholar delving into theology, biblical studies, and religious exploration. Among the resources within this collection are the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Encyclopedia of Christianity, Eerdmans Encyclopedia of Christian Art and Archaeology, and more.

Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics Online –Brings together the latest research from across a range of disciplines which contribute to our knowledge of Ancient Greek.

Encyclopedia of Christianity Online — Describes modern-day Christian beliefs and communities in the context of 2000 years of apostolic tradition and Christian history.

Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics Online — Offers a systematic and comprehensive treatment of all aspects of the history and study of the Hebrew language from its earliest attested form to the present day.

Encyclopedia of Religion, Second Edition —A standard reference in the field. Presents a cross-cultural approach that emphasizes religion’s role within everyday life and as a unique experience from culture to culture.  Especially valuable for interfaith and anthropological information.

Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament — In this online edition the complete vocabulary of the Hebrew Bible, including texts in Aramaic, is available.

Hermeneia Commentary Series Online — Click here for a full description of the collection and direct links to each volume.

History of Global Christianity — Deals with the history of Christianity and its global development over the past five centuries.

International Critical Commentary — One of the most relevant aids to exegesis for over 100 years – linguistic and textual no less than archaeological, historical, literary and theological – with an outstanding level of comprehension and quality of scholarship. Includes 59 volumes.

JSTOR Religion and Theology Collection — Covers the history and philosophy of religious thought spanning traditions, periods, and critical approaches; 87 primary titles with over 380,000 articles.

Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies — Over the last 40 years this pioneering series has established an unrivaled reputation for cutting-edge international scholarship in Biblical Studies and has attracted leading authors and editors in the field. Includes 116 volumes in eBook format.

NEW! Library of New Testament Studies — explores the many aspects of New Testament study including historical perspectives, social-scientific and literary theory, and theological, cultural and contextual approaches. This initial series includes 61 volumes in eBook format focusing on Pauline scholarship.

Overdrive — Sign up on the Overdrive site using your library card number to create your own personal set of popular audiobooks that can be downloaded and played either on a computer or through a mobile app.

Oxford Bibliographies Online – Biblical Studies — an invaluable resource for navigating modern academic study of the Bible by helping its users find authoritative and scholarly research covering a wide variety of Biblical subjects. It’s contributors offer expertise ranging from Egyptology and Assyriology to sociological and feminist studies.

Oxford Online Biblical Reference Resources — Includes access links and descriptions to more than twenty authoritative reference works from Oxford University Press. For students, teachers, clergy, and any reader seeking up-to-date ecumenical resources.

Oxford Online Islamic Reference Resources — Includes access links and descriptions to several outstanding scholarly reference resources in Islamic studies, including the six-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture, John L. Esposito’s What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam, and much more.  Highly recommended.

T&T Clark Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism —  a two volume reference resource providing comprehensive access to 600 scholarly articles.

The Textual History of the Bible Online — Provides a cross-searchable platform for information regarding the textual history, textual character, translation techniques, manuscripts, and the importance of each textual witness for each book of the Hebrew Bible, including its deutero-canonical scriptures.

Biblical Studies UK — large collection of Open Access journals and books, all with appropriate permissions.

Dimensions — a large Open Access academic journal content database, including social science, philosophy, religion and ethics, law, creative arts, language, education, history and archaeology.

Circulation and Extension privileges for physical items

• For local alumni near Richmond or Charlotte
• For alumni living further away who need postal circulation services

If you encounter technical problems while using or attempting to use the electronic resources on the Alumni Research Portal page, you may contact the Library’s Director of Public and Electronic Services, Ryan Douthat for help at rdouthat@upsem.edu or 804-278-4217.

If you would like help researching within these electronic resources or need help with document delivery you may  contact the Library’s Reference Librarian, Mengistu Lemma for help at mlemma@upsem.edu or 804-278-4333.

If you would like to update the contact information in your Library account or be reminded of your online log-in credentials, you may contact Circulation Supervisor Lisa Janes in Richmond at ljanes@upsem.edu (804-278-4335) for assistance.