Category: ALA History

National Library Week: “For a Better-Read, Better-Informed America”

Posted on by Lydia Tang
National Library Week 1958 letterhead
National Library Week 1958 letterhead

Sponsored by the National Book Committee, Inc., and in cooperation with the American Library Association, the first National Library Week was launched on March 16-22, 1958.  Citing a 1957 survey showing that only 17% of Americans polled were reading a book, the inaugural National Library Week slogan was “Wake Up and Read!”  The National Library Week initiative was the first nationwide effort to promote literacy for personal and national improvement, to celebrate the role of libraries in making reading materials accessible to everyone, and to highlight the varied career opportunities available within the library profession.[1]

Continue reading “National Library Week: “For a Better-Read, Better-Informed America”” →

Action, Not Reaction: Integrating the Library Profession

Posted on by Denise Rayman
Original caption: "LOS ANGELES, October, 1949 - Elementary school pupils William Bias, Elizabeth Coggins and Jerry Sekido think it's pretty interesting to watch Nellie Greene charge out their library books with the new Recordak charger on the Children's Traveling Branch, operated by the Los Angeles Public Library."
Original caption: “LOS ANGELES, October, 1949 – Elementary school pupils William Bias, Elizabeth Coggins and Jerry Sekido think it’s pretty interesting to watch Nellie Greene charge out their library books with the new Recordak charger on the Children’s Traveling Branch, operated by the Los Angeles Public Library.”

In the midst of the Civil Rights era in America, librarians were battling for and against segregated libraries in the South, however they were also battling over integration within their own ranks. Integration of the library profession was a long process that started in the early 20th century.  Continue reading “Action, Not Reaction: Integrating the Library Profession” →

Snowed in at Midwinter: the ALA Players

Posted on by Lydia Tang
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Party like it’s 1906! Image from the F. W. Faxon Collection

A recent acquisition to the archives is a small packet containing the bylaws and related documents of the ALA Players (“ALAP”).  As described in the ALA Archives transmittal form, the ALAP was established when a huge snowstorm descended during the Midwinter conference of 1978, causing the group to be snowed in and looking for ways to occupy their time.  The documents reflect the playful attitude of the members during their confinement.  The ALA Players “continued for many years with dancing on Tuesday (or other) nights of each conference.” Continue reading “Snowed in at Midwinter: the ALA Players” →

Freedom to Read Foundation: 45 Years

Posted on by Denise Rayman
Patriotic library poster, c. 1990
Patriotic library poster, c. 1990

Today marks the 45th anniversary of the ALA founding the Freedom to Read Foundation, a non-profit organization that defends the First Amendment as it relates to libraries, books, the Internet, and library users. An off-shoot of the ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom (itself founded only two years prior), the Freedom to Read Foundation focuses its efforts primarily on defending librarians, book publishers, teachers, and other people who are in court due to controversial material, while the Office of Intellectual Freedom focuses on outreach, advocacy, and raising awareness of First Amendment issues. Continue reading “Freedom to Read Foundation: 45 Years” →

Library Service for the Blind

Posted on by Lydia Tang
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Painting by Denman Fink, commissioned by the ALA for the United War Work Campaign, 1919. Record Series 89/1/60, Box 1, Folder: “ALA Library War Service Special Publications (1919)”

“[T]he blind soldier is the spirit of war, of the battlefront, of France,” said Jerry O’Connor, a blinded Cantigny veteran from World War I, during his award-winning speech titled The Duty of the Blind Soldier to the Blind Civilian at the Red Cross Institute for the Blind’s Public Speaking Contest in 1920.  “We have the mud of the trenches upon our feet, gold chevrons upon our sleeves, and the scars of War upon our faces.  Whether we deserve it or not, people stare at us, send us gifts, invite us to their homes, give us sympathy.  Such circumstances place the blind soldier in a position where, when he speaks, he can be heard.  Consequently, if the conditions of the blind can be improved, the blind soldier should speak – and be heard.”  Identifying two major obstacles for blind people as “the habit of the public to look upon the blind man as incapable, sensitive, and helpless” and the lack of educational opportunities for the adult blind person, O’Connor called for public programs to address these obstacles for the blind.  One of the institutions responding to this call for action would be the American Library Association. Continue reading “Library Service for the Blind” →

Burton E. Stevenson: ALA Representative in Europe

Posted on by Lydia Tang
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Found in RS 89/1/13, Box 2, Group #7 – Personnel

Burton Egbert Stevenson (1872-1962) was surprised to find himself named the foremost ALA representative in Europe for the Library War Services campaign during the first World War.  A college dropout from Princeton University and aspiring novelist, he fell into the library profession after marrying Chillicothe Public Librarian, Elisabeth Shephard Butler and accepting a librarian position at the same library in 1899. Continue reading “Burton E. Stevenson: ALA Representative in Europe” →

Library/USA Exhibit at the 1964-5 New York World’s Fair

Posted on by Denise Rayman
Reference librarians on duty at the Library/USA exhibit
Reference librarians on duty at the Library/USA exhibit

Three years before the founding of OCLC, and seven years before Michael Hart typed the first ebook for Project Gutenberg, the public got a tangible introduction to the potential use of computers in libraries at the New York World’s Fair. Even more uniquely, the Library/USA exhibit did not introduce people to the first commonly-spread use of computer technology in libraries, the online catalog, but instead to some of the library computer applications that would come much later, such as online encyclopedias and subject bibliographies. How did the ALA orchestrate this little slice of the future? Continue reading “Library/USA Exhibit at the 1964-5 New York World’s Fair” →

Knapp School Libraries Project

Posted on by Cara Bertram

In 1962, the Knapp Foundation, Inc., provided a $1,130,000 grant administered to the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of ALA, to raise the standards of school libraries. At that time, school libraries in the United States were noted to be substandard. While federal funds helped to fund school libraries in 1958, the AASL realized that school libraries needed more than money to fix their problems. Improvements were needed in collection development, updates in technology, more staff, and renovations in facilities.

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A busy school library at Central Park Road School in Plainview, NY. RS: 99/1/18

The five year Knapp School Libraries Project started in 1963. The project had four objectives: The first was to demonstrate the educational value of school libraries. The second was to promote improved understanding and use of library resources by teachers and administrators. The third objective was to guide other libraries to develop their own programs by having them observe the demonstration schools. And the last objective was to increase interest and support for school library development by producing and circulating information about the program and the demonstration schools.[1] Continue reading “Knapp School Libraries Project” →

Books on Wheels

Posted on by Cara Bertram

In 1904, the Washington County Free Library in Hagerstown, Maryland, outfitted a wagon with bookshelves to serve as a mobile library unit to reach people who could not normally make it to the library. A few times a week, the book wagon was able to reach rural areas of the county and deliver books to residents.

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Pamphlet by the ALA, 1921, RS: 29/7/4

The Washington County Free Library book wagon would meet a tragic end in 1910 when it was struck by a freight train at a railway crossing. This event would suspend the county’s library extension service as there were no funds to purchase a new wagon. However, in 1912, a generous donation of $2,500 by William Kealhofer, Esq. allowed the library to replace the book wagon. Instead of getting another horse drawn wagon, the library purchased a truck that could be fitted with shelves to hold 300 books.[1] The truck allowed the library to extend its reach by being able to add more routes. Continue reading “Books on Wheels” →

Library Service to Prisoners, 1936-39

Posted on by Lydia Tang
Prison Library Unit, Chillicothe OH, 1941
From Record Series 18/1/57, Folder: “Prison Libraries, 1936-1957”

In the mid-1930s, the American Library Association formed a Committee on the Libraries of the American Prison Association.  Found in Record Series 23/40/5, this collection contains the Committee’s surveys[1] from 1936-38 of prison libraries across the nation; reports on prison librarianship which include historical information on recommended book titles and magazine subscriptions, cataloging, circulation protocols, staffing, readership habits, and testimony from prisoners; correspondence[2] of librarians, prison administrators, and prisoners; and a selection of prison newsletters and newspaper clippings. Continue reading “Library Service to Prisoners, 1936-39” →