Editing American Library Association (section)

==Governing structure==
The ALA is governed by an elected council and an executive board. Policies and programs are administered by committees and round tables. One of the organization's most visible tasks is overseen by the Office for Accreditation, which formally reviews and authorizes American and Canadian academic institutions that offer degree programs in [[Library science|library and information science]].

===President and executive directors===
{{further|List of presidents of the American Library Association}}

ALA's President for the 2024–2025 term is [[Cindy Hohl]]. President-elect, [[Sam Helmick]], will preside in 2025-2026.

The executive director of the American Library Association delegates authority within ALA headquarters to ALA’s department heads, who, in carrying out their assigned duties, are called upon to use ALA’s name, and, in that name, to commit the Association to programs, activities, and binding agreements.<ref>"[https://www.ala.org/aboutala/sites/ala.org.aboutala/files/content/governance/officers/eb__info_documents/roles_responsibiliti.pdf ALA President & Executive Director – Roles & Responsibilities]", ALA Executive Board. Annual Conference 2001 – San Francisco. EBD #5.3 2000-2001. June 12, 2001.</ref>
{{Collapse top|List of Executive Directors of the American Library Association}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Name
!Tenure
|-
|[[Leslie Burger]]<ref>[https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2023/11/ala-appoints-leslie-burger-interim-executive-director ALA appoints Leslie Burger as Interim Executive Director] American Library Association, November 15, 2023.</ref> 
|2023-
|-
|[[Tracie D. Hall]]<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-01-15|title=ALA Appoints Tracie D. Hall as Executive Director|url=http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2020/01/ala-appoints-tracie-d-hall-executive-director|access-date=2020-06-26|website=American Library Association|language=en}}</ref>
|2020-2023
|-
|Mary W. Ghikas <ref>[https://www.ala.org/aboutala/sites/ala.org.aboutala/files/content/A%20Tribute%20Resolution%20Honoring%20Mary%20Ghikas.pdf A Tribute Resolution Honoring Mary Ghikas] American Library Association. June 27, 2020.</ref>
|2017-2020
|-
|[[Keith Michael Fiels]]
|2002-2017
|-
|William R. Gordon <ref>“William Gordon Selected Executive Director.” 1998. ''American Libraries'' 29 (May): 7.</ref>
|1998-2002
|-
|Mary W.  Ghikas
|1997-1998
|-
|[[Elizabeth Martinez (librarian)|Elizabeth Martinez]]
|1994-1997
|-
|[[Peggy Sullivan]]
|1992-1994
|-
|Linda F. Crismond <ref>DeCandido, G.A., and M. Rogers. 1989. “The First Woman: Linda Crismond Named Executive Director, ALA. (Cover Story).” ''Library Journal'' 114 (12): 14–17.</ref> First woman executive director.
|1989-1992
|-
|[[Thomas J. Galvin]]
|1985-1989
|-
|[[Robert Wedgeworth]]
|1972-1985
|-
|[[David Horace Clift]] (*Title changed to Executive Director as of November 1958)
|1951-1972
|-
|John MacKenzie Cory <ref>[https://archon.library.illinois.edu/ala/?p=digitallibrary/digitalcontent&id=2621 John Mackenzie Cory] Director of New York Public Library. 1970-78.American Library Association Archives.</ref>
|1948–51
|-
|Harold F. Brigham (interim)<ref>[https://archon.library.illinois.edu/ala/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=7833&q=Harold+F.+Brigham+ Harold F. Brigham Papers, 1919-1942 |July–Aug., 1948] American Library Association Archives.</ref>
|1948
|-
|[[Carl Milam]]<ref>Sullivan, P. 1976. ''Carl H. Milam and the American Library Association.'' New York: H.W. Wilson.  
</ref> 
|1920-1948
|}

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Secretaries of the Association prior to Carl Milam were [[George Burwell Utley]] (1911–20); [[Chalmers Hadley]] (1909–11); Edward C. Hovey (1905–7); [[James Ingersoll Wyer]] (1902–09); [[Frederick Winthrop Faxon]] (1900–02); [[Henry James Carr]] (1898–1900); [[Melvil Dewey]] (1897–98); [[Rutherford Platt Hayes]] (1896–97); [[Henry Livingston Elmendorf]] (1895–96); [[Frank Pierce Hill]] (1891–95); [[Mary Salome Cutler Fairchild|Mary Salome Cutler]] (1891); William E. Parker (1890– 1891) and [[Melvil Dewey]] (1879–90).<ref>American Library Association. "[https://www.ala.org/aboutala/history/past-executive-directors Past Executive Directors & Secretaries]".</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wiegand |first=Wayne A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d3iCt6HcgdcC |title=Irrepressible Reformer: A Biography of Melvil Dewey |date=June 1996 |publisher=American Library Association |isbn=978-0-8389-0680-4 |language=en}}</ref>

===Activities===
The official purpose of the association is "to promote library service and librarianship." Members may join one or more of eight membership divisions that deal with specialized topics such as academic, school, or public libraries, technical or reference services, and library administration. Members may also join any of the nineteen round tables that are grouped around more specific interests and issues than the broader set of ALA divisions.

====Divisions====
* [[American Association of School Librarians]] (AASL).
* [[Association for Library Service to Children]] (ALSC).
* Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)
* Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures. Advances the profession of librarians and information providers in leadership and management, collections and technical services, and technology roles. Formed from former ALA divisions: [[Association for Library Collections and Technical Services]] (ALCTS), [[Library and Information Technology Association]] (LITA), and Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mission & Strategic Plan {{!}} Core |url=https://www.ala.org/core/about/mission |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=www.ala.org |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Public Library Association]] (PLA).
* [[RUSA awards|Reference and User Services Association]] (RUSA). Serves libraries in reference, user services, adult [[readers' advisory]] and collection development as well as resource sharing, genealogy and archives, and reference technology. Selects notable nooks for an annual list.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-03-19 |title=Notable Books List |url=https://rusaupdate.org/awards/notable-books-list/ |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=RUSA Update |language=en-US}}</ref>
* United for Libraries. Supports those who govern, promote, advocate, and fundraise for all types of libraries.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Voice for America's Libraries {{!}} United for Libraries |url=https://www.ala.org/united/about |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=www.ala.org |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Young Adult Library Services Association]] (YALSA).

====Offices====
* ALA Editions (book publishing)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alaeditions.org/ |title=Home page |website=ALA Editions |access-date=February 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110111142306/http://www.alaeditions.org/ |archive-date=January 11, 2011}}</ref>
* Office for Accreditation
* Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services
* Office for Intellectual Freedom
* Public Programs Office<ref>Robertson, Deborah A, and Public Programs Office American Library Association.(2004). ''Cultural Programming for Libraries.'' ALA Editions.</ref>
* Public Policy and Advocacy (est. in 1945)<ref>“ALA Washington Office Reorganizes.” 2019. ''American Libraries'' 50 (1/2): 14.</ref><ref>Molumby, Lawrence E. (1996). "[https://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/ppa ALA Washington Office: A Chronology of its First Fifty Years.]"American Library Association.</ref>

====Round Tables ====
{{Collapse top|List of ALA Round Tables}}
* [[Coretta Scott King Book Award]] Round Table <ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Henrietta M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ar6TAwAAQBAJ |title=The Coretta Scott King Awards, 1970-2009 |date=2009-06-29 |publisher=American Library Association |isbn=978-0-8389-3584-2 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Stephens |first=Claire Gatrell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OOXEEAAAQBAJ |title=Coretta Scott King Award Books: Using Great Literature with Children and Young Adults |date=2000-05-15 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-0-313-08018-0 |language=en}}</ref>
* Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange RT (EMIERT)-committed to [[Multicultural education]]
* Exhibits Round Table (ERT)
* Film and Media Round Table (FMRT), from 1988-2018 was the Video Round Table.
* Games and Gaming (GAMERT)
* Government Documents (GODORT)
* Graphic Novel and Comics Round Table (GNCRT)<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Godbey |first1=Samantha |last2=Melilli |first2=Amanda |date=2021-10-02 |title=Developing a P-12 English Language Learner Collection in an Academic Library That Reflects Its Community |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01462679.2021.1910889 |journal=Collection Management |language=en |volume=46 |issue=3–4 |pages=273–290 |doi=10.1080/01462679.2021.1910889 |issn=0146-2679|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Samek |first=Toni |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w1wYokDxrfAC |title=Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility in American Librarianship, 1967-1974 |date=2017-07-06 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-5073-2 |language=en}}</ref>
* International Relations (IRRT)
* Learning RT (LearnRT)
*[[Library History Round Table]] (LHRT)<ref>Greenberg, Gerry (2023), "On LHRT's Seventy-Fifth Anniversary. ''Libraries: Culture, History, and Society'' 7 no.1:77-79.</ref> "Bibliography of Library History" database containing over 7,000 entries.<ref name="openpub1"/>
* Library Instruction Round Table
* Library Research
* Library Support Staff Interests Round Table
* Map and Geospatial Information
* New Members Round Table
* [[Rainbow Round Table]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ford |first=Anne |date=2020 |title=The Rainbow's Arc: ALA's Rainbow Round Table celebrates 50 years of pride |journal=American Libraries |volume=51 |issue=6 |pages=26–31 |jstor=26993090 }}</ref>
* Retired Members Round Table
* Social Responsibilities Round Table – est. 1969.<ref>{{cite journal |id={{ProQuest|207670714}} |last1=Joyce |first1=Steven |title=A Few Gates: An Examination of the Social Responsibilities Debate in the Early 1970s & '90s |journal=Progressive Librarian |issue=15 |date=31 January 1999 |page=1 }}</ref>
Task forces:
* *Feminist Task Force<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Poole |first1=Alex H. |title='Be Damned Pushy at Times': The Committee on the Status of Women and Feminism in the Archival Profession, 1972–1998 |journal=The American Archivist |date=September 2018 |volume=81 |issue=2 |pages=394–437 |doi=10.17723/0360-9081-81.2.394 }}</ref>
** Hunger, Homelessness, and Poverty Task Force 
** International Responsibilities Task Force
** Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Task Force
** The Rainbow Project Task Force
** Task Force on the Environment
* Staff Organization
* Sustainability
* Round Table Coordinating Assembly
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====Committees====

The Committee on Literacy develops and recommends the association's policies related to the promotion of multiple literacies.<ref>[https://www.ala.org/aboutala/committees/ala/ala-literacy Committee on Literacy.] American Library Association.</ref>

The Chapter Relations Committee develops and recognizes chapters as integral components of ALA, encourages discussion, activities and programs that support the mutual interests of ALA and the chapters.<ref>[https://www.ala.org/aboutala/committees/ala/ala-crc ALA Chapter Relations Committee] American Library Association.</ref>

In 1970, the ALA founded the "Task Force on Gay Liberation, the first professional [[lesbian]], [[gay]], [[bisexual]] and [[transgender]] organization, which became the "Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT), now the [[Rainbow Round Table]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Poole |first1=Alex H. |title='Tearing the Shroud of Invisibility': Communities of Protest Information Practices and the Fight for LGBTQ Rights in US Librarianship |journal=The Library Quarterly |date=October 2020 |volume=90 |issue=4 |pages=530–562 |doi=10.1086/710255 }}</ref><ref name=glbtrt>{{cite web | title=Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table (GLBTRT) |date=October 30, 2006 |url=http://www.ala.org/glbtrt/ | publisher=ALA | access-date=2010-09-01| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100916223855/http://ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/glbtrt/index.cfm| archive-date= 16 September 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref name=gittings>{{cite book | last=Gittings | first=Barbara | title=Gays in library land : the Gay and Lesbian Task Force of the American Library Association : the first sixteen years | publisher=B. Gittings | publication-place=Philadelphia, PA | year=1990 | oclc=22581772 }}</ref>

In 1976, the Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship (COSWL) was established as an ALA Council Committee.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ala.org/offices/hrdr/abouthrdr/hrdrliaisoncomm/statusofwomen/committeestatus|title=COSWL|work=ala.org|date=July 26, 2006}}</ref><ref name="library.illinois.edu">{{Cite web |url=http://www.library.illinois.edu/archives/ala/holdings/?p=creators/creator&id=3540 |title=Status of Women in Librarianship, Committee on the &#124; the American Lib… |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120804020111/http://www.library.illinois.edu/archives/ala/holdings/?p=creators/creator&id=3540 |archive-date=4 August 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>