150 YEARS STRONG

THE OFFICIAL ANNIVERSARY BLOG

Discover the people, policies, and pivotal moments that shaped the ALA and the libraries we all rely on. Our anniversary blog is your behind-the-scenes look at the legacy we’re honoring and the future we’re building, with regular stories on how we’re celebrating.

ALA Library War Service book plate design draft.

Reading for the Future: Looking Back on the Library War Service and 150 Years of ALA

In 1919, Herbert Hoover founded the Hoover War Library at Stanford University in response to the devastation he witnessed in Europe. Today, as archivists at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives, we encounter many collections related to World War I, but the dynamic photographs of librarians distributing reading materials to soldiers in our American Library Association War Service records caught our attention and led us on an unexpected and informative journey.

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