Small & Rural Libraries Center

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Resources for your library, your career, and your community from across the Association

New Member Center

Get started finding resources and tools from across the Association with our New Member Center.

ALA Connect and ALA Connect Live

Collaborate with more than 50,000 library professionals across the globe. ALA Connect is the place to share ideas and make new connections with library workers of varied interest and specialization. ALA Presidents host ALA Connect Live events to connect with members year-round - look through the archive of these thoughtful discussions around issues that matter to the library community. A great place to start is our recent session: Small, Rural, and Tribal Libraries as Community Anchors.

American Libraries and AL Direct

Keep up with breaking news and relevant information with early access to ALA’s award-winning e-newsletter AL Direct and American Libraries magazine. Follow American Libraries tags rural and small libraries for stories targeted to your library and community

Libraries Transforming Communities

Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC) seeks to strengthen libraries’ role as core community leaders and change-agents. The initiative addresses a critical need within the library field by developing and distributing new tools, resources and support for librarians to engage with their communities in new ways.

LTC has created free resources for small and rural libraries including the guide, Leading Conversations in Small and Rural Libraries and the accompanying e-course. In 2020, the Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small & Rural Libraries grant opportunity gave 567 libraries in 48 states facilitation training and $3,000 to host conversations on issues of concern in their communities.

Opening in late 2022, Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities will offer more than $7 million in grants to small and rural libraries to increase the accessibility of facilities, services, and programs to better serve people with disabilities.

ALA Member Benefits

Take advantage of our ALA Member Value Programs - affinity programs and external benefits to help you save on office supplies, car rentals or even home insurance.

Professional Development

Sample programming from across ALA on a range of topics through our ALA Showcase sessions and on-demand webinars from the Public Library Association. Plus, your ALA membership unlocks discounted pricing on ALA eLearning – browse the catalog to find learning opportunities designed to meet your needs and your schedule, from a quick webinar to asynchronous online courses.

Advocacy

Advocacy is integral to the ALA mission and serves to provide advocacy assistance, resources, training, and support networks. Check out the advocacy assistance available on a variety of issues as well as tools to help you get started including state and local resources and federal resources.

Intellectual Freedom

Protecting the right to read is a core value of the library profession and ALA has tools to help you and your library. Find a wealth of resources aimed at preparing for and responding to challenges at our Fight Censorship page, including tips and toolkits, graphics, links to state resources and more. Raise your voice against censorship through ALA’s new Unite Against Book Bans initiative aimed at empowering readers everywhere to fight against censorship.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Engage with Libraries Respond resources to share information, find resources, and connect as your library evolves to meet the changing needs of your community through the lens of equity, diversity, and inclusion. Evaluate your performance with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Scorecard for Library and Information Organizations – a tool developed that centers accountability and transparency in determining organizational effectiveness in diversity, equity, and inclusion in the recruitment, hiring, retention, and promotion of people of color.

Programming Librarian

Share, learn and be inspired! Programming Librarian provides the resources, connections, and opportunities you need to help your library fulfill its role as a center of cultural and civic life. Find a range of helpful ideas and articles like Hometown Librarian: Q&A with a Problem-Solving Small-Town Librarian and Standing against Racism in My Rural Library.

Tools, Publications, and Resources

There’s a wealth of resources across the Association to help you and your patrons, including: