About ALA & Our Mission
Our Strategic Priorities
ALA and its members work with libraries, the broader library community and members of the public to advocate for the value of libraries and for public support for libraries of all types.
The American Library Association's Public Policy and Advocacy office represents libraries on Capitol Hill. The team is charged with following and influencing legislation, policy, and regulatory issues of importance to the library field.
ALA provides resources to support all aspects and all stages of your library career: School, jobs, continuing education and professional growth.
ALA recognizes that equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) impacts all aspects of work among members of the Association, within the field of librarianship, and within the communities served by libraries.
Our Core Values
Access provides opportunities for everyone in the community to obtain library resources and services with minimal disruption. Library workers create systems that ensure members of their community can freely access the information they need for learning, growth, and empowerment regardless of technology, format, or delivery methods.
Library workers play a crucial role in fostering equity by actively working to dismantle barriers and create spaces that are accessible, welcoming, and beneficial for all. This is accomplished by recognizing and addressing systemic barriers, biases, and inequalities to create inclusive library environments where everyone can benefit from the library's offerings and services.
Intellectual freedom empowers people to think for themselves and to make informed decisions while respecting each individual’s dignity and independence. Library workers encourage people to cultivate curiosity and form ideas by questioning the world and accessing information from diverse viewpoints and formats without restrictions or censorship. The right to privacy is a crucial safeguard to this freedom, ensuring everyone has the right to develop their thoughts and opinions free of surveillance.
Public good is working to improve society and protect the rights to education, literacy, and intellectual freedom. Libraries are an essential public good and are fundamental institutions in democratic societies. Library workers provide the highest service levels to create informed, connected, educated, and empowered communities.
Sustainability means making choices that are good for the environment, make sense economically, and treat everyone equitably. Sustainable choices preserve physical and digital resources and keep services useful now and into the future. By supporting climate resiliency, library workers create thriving communities and care for our common good for a better tomorrow.
What We Do
The association works to increase public awareness of the value of libraries and librarians, to promote state and national legislation beneficial to libraries and library users, and to supply resources and support to local library advocates.
Diversity is reflected in the association's commitment to recruiting people of color and people with disabilities to the profession, and to the promotion and development of library collections and services for all people.
The association provides opportunities for the professional development and education of all library staff members and trustees. It promotes continuous, lifelong learning for all people through library and information services of every type.
The Association advocates for funding and policies that support libraries as great democratic institutions, providing the full range of information resources to people of every age, income level, location, ethnicity, or physical ability.
Intellectual freedom is a basic right in a democratic society and a core value of the library profession. The ALA actively defends the right of library users to read, seek information, and speak freely as guaranteed by the First Amendment.
The ALA assists and promotes libraries in helping children and adults develop the ability to read and utilize information resources -understanding that literacy is essential in a global information society.
The association is inclusive, effective, and responsive to the needs of ALA members.
ALA provides leadership in the transformation of libraries and library services in a dynamic and increasingly global digital information environment.
How You Can Help
ALA membership is open to individuals, organizations, non-profits, and businesses interested in working together to change the world for the better through libraries and librarians.
Your contribution supports new librarian development, cultural programming, advocacy efforts, and more.
ALA Store purchases fund advocacy, awareness, and accreditation programs for library professionals worldwide.
ALA History
During the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, 103 librarians (90 men and 13 women) responded to a call for a "Convention of Librarians" to be held October 4-6 at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The aim of the Association, in that resolution, was "to enable librarians to do their present work more easily and at less expense." Attendees came from as far west as Chicago and from England.
According to Ed Holley in his essay "ALA at 100," at the end of the meeting "the register was passed around for all to sign who wished to become charter members," making October 6, 1876 the birthday of the American Library Association.
Among those in attendance at the meeting were Justin Winsor (Boston Public, Harvard), William Frederick Poole (Chicago Public, Newberry), Charles Ammi Cutter (Boston Athenaeum), Melvil Dewey (Amherst), and Richard Rogers Bowker (Publisher's Weekly).
(Image: American Library Association Campaigns - Drive for books for WWI fighters. March 18, 1918 . Photo shows a number of girls each with a pile of books wending her way into the Public Library Building, New York, where they left books to be sent to camps. This campaign for books was started by the American Library Association. [National Archives and Records])
