American Library Association

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Image:Ala logo.gif The American Library Association (ALA) promotes libraries and library education in the United States and internationally. It has approximately 66,000 members. It was founded in 1876 in Philadelphia and chartered in 1879 in Massachusetts, making it the oldest and largest library association in the world. Its head office is in Chicago. Since 2002[1], the Executive Director (CEO) of the American Library Association has been Keith Michael Fiels. He is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Association and its staff.

Its mission is "to provide leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all." It is open to any person or organization willing to pay dues, though most of its members are libraries or librarians. Most members live and work in the United States; international members comprise 3.5% of total membership. [2]

The ALA is governed by an elected council and an executive board. Policies and programs are administered by various committees and roundtables. One of the organization's most visible tasks is overseen by the Office for Accreditation, which formally reviews and authorizes American academic institutions that offer degree programs in library and information science.

Members may choose to join one or more of 11 membership divisions which deal with specialized topics such as academic, school, or public libraries, technical or reference services, and library administration. Members may also choose to join any of 17 roundtables, that are grouped around more specific interests and issues than the broader set of ALA divisions.

The ALA is affiliated with regional, state, and student chapters across the country. It also organizes conferences, participates in library standards development, and publishes a number of books and periodicals. The ALA annually confers numerous notable book and media awards, including the Caldecott Medal, the Newbery Medal, and the Stonewall Book Award. [3]

1 Political stances
2 Divisions
3 Roundtables
4 External links

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Political stances

The ALA holds opinions on United States political issues which it believes are related to libraries and librarianship. For court cases which touch on issues for which the organization holds positions, the ALA often files amicus curiae briefs. It also provides materials to libraries which may include information on how to apply for grants, how to comply with the law, and how to fight a law. [4]

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Civil liberties, intellectual freedom, and privacy

Under the guidance of director Judith Krug, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom promotes intellectual freedom which it describes as "the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. [ALA] provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored." [5]

The ALA filed suit against the United States Children's Internet Protection Act in ALA vs. United States. The circuit court sided with the plaintiffs, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the decision in favor of the law on June 23 2003. [6]

The American Library Association passed a resolution on the Patriot Act, that it considers "a present danger to the constitutional rights and privacy rights of library users" and is active in fighting censorship nationwide. [7] An ALA member's case (Doe v. Gonzales) is currently being heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. It was originally heard by the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, which ruled that issuing a national security letter under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to a library consortium violated the right to free speech. [8] Because the plaintiff is the employee of a library consortium and an ALA member, the ALA filed an amicus curiae brief with the court.

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Copyright

The ALA says it "supports efforts to amend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and to urge the courts to restore the balance in copyright law, ensure fair use and protect and extend the public domain." [9] It supports changing copyright law to release orphan works into the public domain; is wary of digital rights management; and, in ALA v. FCC, successfully sued the Federal Communications Commission to prevent regulation that would enforce next generation digital televisions to contain rights management hardware. It has joined the Information Access Alliance to promote open access to research. [10]

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Critical responses

Because the ALA holds policy positions on number of controversial current issues, and because many libraries are funded by taxpayers and used by the general public, critical reactions often spring up in response to ALA positions. For example:

Parent groups will request that an individual library or library system remove certain displays or withdraw controversial books from the circulating collection. For example, in Hillsborough County, FL, a group of parents and city counselors successfully campaigned to have the library remove its Gay pride display. [11][12] Although such protests are between the members of a community and the community's library, the ALA usually issues a statement supporting the library's free speech rights during such controversies. Some parent groups express anger over the ALA Library Bill of Rights because they believe the rights it supports are sometimes in conflict with more recent legislation such as the Children's Internet Protection Act.
Author Nat Hentoff, winner of the ALA's 1983 Immroth Award for intellectual freedom, [13] has lashed out at the ALA's refusal to take a stance on 10 Cuban dissidents operating private libraries [14] who have been jailed by the Cuban regime. [15]
The American Library Association is thought to hold liberal political beliefs, which some conservative library professionals find problematic.