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| Purpose | Professional library association |
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| Headquarters | Chicago, IL |
| Website | ala |
The Association of Specialized, Government, and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASGCLA) [1] is a defunct division of the American Library Association (ALA), which is the oldest and largest library association in the world. [2] The ALA Council in June 2020 voted to dissolve ASGCLA and assign its components to other units within ALA [3] [4] and it ceased to exist on September 1, 2020. [5]
In 1977, two ALA divisions, the American Association of State Library Agencies (founded in 1957) and the Health and Rehabilitative Library Services Division (founded in 1956 as the Association of Hospital and Institution Libraries) merged and took on the name ASCLA. The independent librarians joined ASCLA in 1998 when their ALA round table, Independent Librarians’ Exchange Round Table (ILERT), voted to merge with the division. In the election of 2017, the Federal and Armed Forces Libraries Round Table (FAFLRT) voted to merge into ASCLA. In the ALA elections of 2018, the name was voted to be changed from Association of Specialized, and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) to implement the merger with the former Federal and Armed Forces Librarians Round Table. [6] [7]
The Association of Hospital and Institution Libraries included the former Division of Hospital Libraries and the former Institution Libraries Committee. The Division of Hospital Libraries was established by Council in 1944, following a petition by 300 ALA members. The Division replaced the Hospital Libraries Round Table, and formed the beginnings of the new division, which was authorized by Council in June 1956.
The State Library Agencies Division became a division of ALA on January 1, 1957. It was created out of the Committee on State Library Agencies. The Committee on State Library Agencies had been established by the Executive Board, January 1950, with a charge to "outline a proposal for a study of state library agencies as a basis for setting standards and strengthening services." The officers of the National Association of State Libraries constituted the Organizing Committee of the State Library Agencies Division.
In 1958 the National Association of State Libraries, founded in 1889, disbanded. [8] Its membership merged with that of the American Association of State Libraries (AASL), a division of ALA since January 1, 1957. [9] The State Library Agencies Division (SLAD) was founded on January 1, 1957 [10] and in 1958 SLAD merged with the AASL [11] to become the State Library Agency Division [12] and AASL changed its title to the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA). [13] )
In June 2020, the ALA Council voted to dissolve the division, effective September 1, due to the ALA's financial difficulties and ASGCLA's "falling membership and revenues." [14] The dissolution took effect on September 1, 2020. [5]
ASGCLA was responsible for functions pertaining to library services performed by state library agencies, specialized library agencies, and mutitype library cooperatives. It had the specific responsibility for:
ASGCLA was governed by an Executive Committee and a Board. The Executive Committee included the president, the vice-president/president-elect, the secretary, the past-president, and the ALA divisional councilor. The executive committee was responsible for management of the Association between Annual and Midwinter meetings of ALA. The Association executive director was an ex officio member of the Executive Committee. All decisions of the Executive Committee were reported to the Board of Directors. [15]
The Board of Directors consisted of the officers, the ALA divisional councilor, and eight directors, five of whom were designated directors. The five (5) designated directors represented the types of library organizations and agencies: state library agencies (1), library agencies and individuals who serve special populations (2), library cooperatives (1), armed forces libraries (1), federal libraries (1), and independent librarians (1). The executive director and the editor of the Association publication served as ex officio non-voting members of the Board. Other non-voting members may have been appointed by the president, with approval of the Board of Directors.
ASGCLA had the following committees: [16]
ASGCLA Interest Groups [17] were virtual groups hosted on ALA Connect, the active online member community site of ALA. Each community came together to share knowledge and enthusiasm for a specific subject and made valuable contributions to ASGCLA and its core interests of strengthening the usefulness, efficiency and services of:
The archives of ASGCLA are in the archives of the American Library Association, housed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. [18]
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