ALA in 1876

By John Grimm

In 1876, at our nation’s Centennial Celebration in Philadelphia, 90 men and 13 women responded to a call for a "Convention of Librarians." At the end of the meeting these 103 librarians from all around the country signed the register that was passed around to become charter members of the American Library Association.
ALA has been a friend and counselor to librarians of all kinds for these 134 years and it is important to all of us in the profession to thank the association for its tireless work on behalf of libraries and librarians.
A new president has just been installed. Roberta Stevens has a stellar resume both in academia and government. She accepted the gavel with these words:
“I am honored to be ALA’s president,” said Stevens. “At a time when libraries are encountering a perfect storm of increased usage and decreased support, I will focus on making broadly known the vital services we provide to millions of Americans each day.”
We welcome those words in Highland as we face our own budget difficulties. It’s not surprising to most of you who know our library that job seekers, career changers, and the unemployed have been coming to the Highland Library in record numbers. We hope to provide the same “vital service” to our patrons that we always have.
Stevens also pledged to “do my utmost to ensure that our libraries — the envy of the world — are both prepared for, as well as preparing others for, the challenges of the 21st century.” We in this library system are preparing to take on these challenges by adding more books and training our staff to reach out to library users who require more job skills.
The ALA motto might sound like it was written in 2010 but it actually came out of that first meeting in 1876: “The best reading, for the largest number, at the least cost.”