Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures is the national association that advances the profession of librarians and information providers in central roles of buildings & operations, leadership & management, metadata & collections, and technology. Core members play a central role in every library, shaping the future of the profession by striking a balance between maintenance and innovation, process and progress, collaborating and leading. Our members serve in every level of responsibility for the implementation and maintenance of core services, from the practitioners who keep things running day-to-day to the innovators going in new directions to those making funding decisions, as well as the library school students who will shape the future. For and by members, Core delivers mentoring, learning, networking, and leadership opportunities across library types and experience levels. We support each other through collective challenges by building and sustaining a more equitable and accessible future, one Core member at a time.
Find your Core: Get Involved in Our Sections
Announcements
The Core Forum will take place November 14-16, 2024, in Minneapolis, Minnesota! Registration is now open!
The Core Forum is a 3-day in-person event that brings together decisionmakers and practitioners from the ALA division that focuses on:
- Access & Equity
- Buildings & Operations
- Leadership & Management
- Metadata & Collections
- Preservation
- Technology
Our program tracks and discussions are structured around these six topics, particularly the ways in which they integrate together. Areas that used to be separate and siloed now complement each other to explore and collaborate in all the areas where these topics overlap. Check out the schedule of sessions.
Library services & technology vendors, service providers, and open source projects are welcome to attend. Learn about becoming a Sponsor or Exhibitor.
Participate in an online Fundamentals course on topics like acquisitions, cataloging, collection assessment, collection development & management, digital library projects, electronic resources acquisitions, management, metadata, preservation, and universal design for learning.
The Core Leadership Development & Mentoring Committee is recruiting for both mentors and mentees for the 2024-2025 cohort. The Core Leadership Development Mentoring Program pairs Core members who are currently in leadership positions with Core members who are interested in becoming leaders.
The deadline to apply to become a mentor or a mentee is Monday, September 23, 2024.
For more information about the Core Leadership Mentoring Program, visit the Core Mentoring Program web page.
Preservation Week inspires action to preserve your collections. We believe that memories and treasures should last a lifetime and beyond, and that these physical and digital materials support both community and cultural identities. Focusing on preservation for a designated week every year raises awareness of the role libraries and other cultural institutions play in preservation, by sharing information to help make informed decisions that help your collections last for the future.
The 2024 Preservation Week theme was Preserving Identities. The 2025 theme and honorary chair will be announced this fall.
Visit the Preservation Week website for great resources to get started, stay up to date on a topic, solve a specific preservation challenge, or find guidance to share with others.
Consider becoming a sponsor to support the work of Preservation Week!
To help our members learn new skills and software to grow their careers, we're excited to offer access to the Core OCLC WMS Sandbox. Any Core member can request a login for the sandbox to learn how to use OCLC's WorldShare Management Services (WMS) system and get hands-on practice at no additional cost. Even if your library doesn't use WMS, this unique learning opportunity gives library workers who want to learn new skills and systems the ability to work directly in a library management system.
Learn new skills and tools with our archive of free recordings exclusively for members
Submit an ALA 2025 Annual Conference Program Proposal for Core. Proposals are due by September 23, 2024, and you don’t need to be a Core member to submit one.
Core members play a central role in every library, shaping the future of the profession by striking a balance between maintenance and innovation, process and progress, collaborating and leading. You can help cultivate and amplify the collective expertise.
Why Join Core?
We know that staying current in your field is a top priority.
As a Core member, you have access to a wide array of resources, educational opportunities, and events focused on the topics that interest you most. Keep yourself informed with these Core benefits.
We know that learning new skills is a top priority.
Core members receive significant discounts on online learning opportunities in a variety of formats. Upskill with these continuing education benefits designed to meet your needs.
We know that connecting with colleagues is a top priority.
Your Core membership affords you diverse opportunities to network and collaborate with other members. Consider the following avenues for meeting more of your new community.
We know that volunteering is a top priority.
Core is sustained by an incredible network of member volunteers who support the division's work in every area. New members are welcome to select volunteer opportunities through which they can contribute their existing talents or develop new ones. The following are key ways you can serve Core while making the most of your membership.
CORE News
Find your Core
Our Books & Publications
Filling a gap in the literature, this volume provides librarians and catalogers with practical approaches to reparative cataloging as well as a broader understanding of the topic and its place in the technical services landscape.
Contributors representing a variety of contexts demonstrate the ways in which libraries can leverage their systems and resources to support the work of underrepresented, minoritized, or marginalized people to increase freedom, justice, community, and broa
Anthropology is arguably one of the most diverse fields in academe. It ranges in focus from archaeology to evolution and primate studies, to linguistics, and to observation of current cultural practices. Methodologically, it may include any combination of
Opening libraries to the exciting possibilities of Open Access, this book outlines both its strategic and practical aspects, showing librarians how to understand and support OA regardless of their organizational context or resources.