American Library Association

Chicago, Illinois, USA

The American Library Association is a nonprofit membership organization headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, that advocates for libraries, library workers, and equitable public access to information; founded in 1876, it is the oldest and largest library association in the world.

Overview

The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit membership organization advocating for the nation's libraries, library workers, and the public's access to information. It is not itself a library, though it maintains a small internal ALA Library to answer questions about the association's own history and operations. Founded in 1876, ALA is the oldest and largest library association in the world, drawing members from public, school, academic, and special libraries across the United States and beyond. Its stated mission centers on empowering libraries and library workers to secure equitable access to information for everyone, organized around four core values: Equity and Access, Intellectual Freedom, Sustainability, and Public Good. In 2026, ALA marked its 150th anniversary with a commemorative site and the campaign "For Our Libraries. For 150 Years More."

Membership, divisions, and programs

ALA is organized into eight membership divisions, each focused on a type of library or area of library work: the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures, the Public Library Association (PLA), the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), United for Libraries, and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). Members may also join round tables organized around narrower professional interests, from government documents to library history to sustainability. ALA's divisions administer many of the field's best-known honors; ALSC's Youth Media Awards, for example, include the John Newbery Medal and the Randolph Caldecott Medal, most recently announced on January 26, 2026, in Chicago, where the Newbery Medal went to Renée Watson's All the Blues in the Sky and the Caldecott Medal to Fireworks, illustrated by Cátia Chien and written by Matthew Burgess. The association also publishes the review journal Booklist and the membership magazine American Libraries, produces books and other resources through ALA Editions and the ALA Store, and holds a large Annual Conference alongside the winter LibLearnX learning event; the 2026 Annual Conference, held in Chicago from June 25 to 29, doubled as the association's 150th-anniversary gathering.

Advocacy and intellectual freedom

ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF), established December 1, 1967, carries out the association's policies on intellectual freedom as set out in the Library Bill of Rights, ALA's core statement on free access to libraries and library materials. Each fall, ALA leads Banned Books Week, observed annually since 1982 and held October 4–10 in 2026 under the theme "Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read"; ALA is a founding member of the Banned Books Week Coalition. Through its "Unite Against Book Bans" initiative and an ongoing censorship database, OIF tracked 4,235 unique book titles challenged in 2025, the second-highest total ALA has recorded, behind 4,240 titles challenged in 2023; each April, during National Library Week, the association publishes a list of the year's most challenged books as part of its State of America's Libraries Report.

ALA has also gone to court to defend federal library funding. After a March 14, 2025 executive order directed the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), ALA and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) sued the administration; a federal court issued a temporary restraining order on May 1, 2025, and IMLS reinstated previously canceled grants in December 2025 following a related court ruling. On April 9, 2026, ALA and AFSCME signed a binding settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice that kept IMLS intact, reversed the agency's staff reductions, and closed the litigation.

History

ALA traces its founding to October 6, 1876, when 103 librarians — 90 men and 13 women, among them Justin Winsor, Melvil Dewey, Charles Ammi Cutter, Samuel Swett Green, James L. Whitney, Fred B. Perkins, and Thomas W. Bicknell — met as a "Convention of Librarians" at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania during the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The association was formally incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on October 6, 1879, with a charter describing its purpose as promoting the library interests of the country and increasing cooperation among librarians. ALA is now headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and marked its 150th anniversary in 2026.

Funding and governance

ALA is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (EIN 36-2166947), with income drawn from membership dues, conference revenue, publishing, grants, and investment income. The association is governed by an elected Council, its policy-making body, and an Executive Board that manages the association's affairs and delegates day-to-day operations to an Executive Director. According to ALA's own 2026 governance reporting, total membership stood at just over 44,000 that year, down from a peak of more than 66,000 in 2010.

Leadership

Dr. Maria McCauley, Director of Libraries for the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was inaugurated ALA President for the 2026–2027 term on June 29, 2026, at Chicago's Harold Washington Library Center, succeeding Sam Helmick, Community & Access Services Coordinator at the Iowa City Public Library, who served as 2025–2026 president. Tamika Barnes, Associate Dean of Perimeter College Library Services at Georgia State University, was elected in April 2026 as president-elect and is set to serve as ALA president for 2027–2028. Larry Neal, of the Clinton-Macomb Public Library in Clinton Township, Michigan, serves as Treasurer (2025–2028). Daniel J. Montgomery was named ALA's Executive Director in June 2025 and began the role on November 10, 2025, succeeding Interim Executive Director Leslie Burger.