The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world.
The American Theological Library Association (Atla) is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3), professional association, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Atla's member libraries and librarians provide resources for scholarly research to tens of thousands of students, faculty, staff, and administrators. The association supports the membership with services and products, including an annual conference, members-only publications and discounts, and professional development opportunities.
The Special Libraries Association (SLA) is an international professional association for library and information professionals working in business, government, law, finance, non-profit, and academic organizations and institutions.
Elonnie J. Josey was an African-American activist and librarian. Josey was the first chair of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, having been instrumental in its formation in 1970; served as president of the American Library Association from 1984 to 1985; and was the author of over 400 books and other publications.
The Regina Medal is a literary award conferred annually by the Catholic Library Association. It recognizes one living person for "continued, distinguished contribution to children's literature without regard to the nature of the contribution" and several recipients have been neither writers nor illustrators of children's books. It was inaugurated in 1959, and it is administered by the Children's Library Services Section.
The Art Libraries Society of North America is an organization of approximately 1,000 art librarians, library students and visual resource professionals. The ARLIS/NA was founded in 1972.
The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), is a Division of the American Library Association.
The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association, is a professional association of academic librarians and other interested individuals. It is dedicated to enhancing the ability of academic library and information professionals to serve the information needs of the higher education community and to improving learning, teaching, and research. The association serves librarians in all types of academic libraries at the community college, college, and university level and also serves librarians that work in comprehensive and specialized research libraries.
Hugh Craig Atkinson was an American librarian known for his innovations in library automation and cooperation. He served as director of libraries at Ohio State University from 1971 to 1976 and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1976 to 1986. In 1999, American Libraries named him one of the 20th century's 100 most important leaders in librarianship.
Frederick Wilfrid ("Wilf") Lancaster was a British-American information scientist. He immigrated to the US in 1959 and worked as information specialist for the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland, from 1965 to 1968. He was a professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana, from 1972 to 1992 and professor emeritus from 1992 to 2013. He continued as an honored scholar after retirement speaking on the evolution of librarianship in the 20th and 21st century.
The Alice G. Smith Lecture, established in 1989, is sponsored by the University of South Florida School of Information. The lecture is an annual recognition of a scholar or author whose achievements have been instrumental in the development of librarianship or information studies. The lecture series honors the memory of the School's first director, Alice Gullen Smith, known for her work with youth and bibliotherapy. The Lecture Fund was created with the purpose of memorializing the work of Smith, who was central to the School's first accreditation by the American Library Association in 1975. Florida Library Association archivist, Bernadette Storck has provided an oral history of the development of libraries in Tampa, Florida that details the contributions of Smith including her establishment of the Tampa Book Fair that encouraged thousands of children to foster a love for books and reading
The Southeastern Library Association (SELA) is an organization that collaborates with different library associations within the Southeastern United States, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The Virginia Library Association(VLA) is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is "to develop, promote, and improve library and information services, library staff, and the profession of librarianship in order to advance literacy and learning and to ensure access to information in the Commonwealth of Virginia." The VLA is divided into six regions. It maintains the VLA Jobline, a list of jobs available in libraries throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Kathleen de la Peña McCook is a library scholar and librarian. Much of her work centers around human rights, First Amendment issues, and the freedom of information.
Alma Dawson is an American scholar of librarianship. She retired as Russell B. Long Professor at the School of Library & Information Science, Louisiana State University in 2014 and was awarded Emeritus status in 2015. In 2019 Dr. Dawson was honored with the Essae Martha Culver Distinguished Service Award from the Louisiana Library Association which honors a librarian whose professional service and achievements, whose leadership in Louisiana association work, and whose lifetime accomplishments in a field of librarianship within the state merit recognition of particular value to Louisiana librarianship.
Barbara J. Ford is an American librarian who served as president of the American Library Association from 1997 to 1998. She earned a bachelor's degree from Illinois Wesleyan University, a master's degree in International Relations from Tufts University and a master's degree in library science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Eunice Rockwood Oberly was a librarian who spent her career with the United States Department of Agriculture. She is best known for her work as the librarian of the Bureau of Plant Industry and for compiling the Check List of Publication of the State Agricultural Experiment Stations on the Subject of Plant Pathology 1876-1920.
Lucille Cole Thomas was an American librarian. Thomas had a long career supporting library services for children with the New York City Board of Education. She was the first African American president of the New York Library Association. She also served as president of the International Association of School Librarianship and the American Association of School Librarians.
Anne Harrison (1923–1992) was an Australian librarian. The Anne Harrison Award of ALIA Health Libraries Australia was established as a call to remembrance of Harrison's work and a medium for encouraging others to make their own contributions to the development of health librarianship in Australia.
