150 YEARS STRONG

A Long Legacy

Happy (almost) birthday, ALA!

While the Association’s founding is technically in October, our team [at American Libraries] was eager to put on our party hats to celebrate ALA’s 150th year. On the cover of our May 2026 issue, illustrator Gaby FeBland reconceptualizes a card from the 1876 library conference in Philadelphia and beautifully blends the profession’s past and present.

Inside the issue, you’ll find a timeline of key historical events (“55 Moments That Redefined Librarianship”), as well as an exhibit of library poster art through the decades (“Posters of Progress”). We extend a special hat tip to Cara Bertram, who oversees the ALA Archives at  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, for assisting with our photo research on these two features. Both articles showcase how libraries continue to “reimagine their place in public life” and serve as a mirror of society’s aspirations and ideals.

Also finding their place in public life were the trailblazers of ALA. In “A Seat at the Table,” Anne Ford and Emily Udell interviewed eight “barrier-busting Association leaders about their struggles, triumphs, breakdowns, and breakthroughs” while serving as president or executive director of ALA.

The May 2026 issue of American Libraries

In our Bookend (“A Library for Librarians”), we profile the ALA Library and the work of ALA Librarian Colleen Barbus. Read about the queries she gets most often from the public.

Colleen and many of our other colleagues across the Association have been working for months to plan events and activities for this sesquicentennial year. We hope you’ve had a chance to check out the ALA anniversary website (ala150.org) and the oral history–style podcast episodes on “How I Library.”

And of course, there will be plenty of ALA150 programs and events at the Annual Conference in Chicago this June (including a powerful video narrated by former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, which will debut at the Opening General Session). Stay tuned. We hope to see you this summer, where we can all don our party hats to celebrate.

 

Sanhita SinhaRoy is editor and publisher of American Libraries.

This editorial first appeared in the May 2026 issue of American Libraries. 

150 YEARS STRONG

THE OFFICIAL ANNIVERSARY BLOG

Stationary used by George Nason with “Association” blotted out. From the ALA Archives,

The Curious Case of the Two American Library Associations

Cara Bertram November 5, 2026

In 1899, the American Library Association was notified that a small commercial traveling library was operating under the name “The American Library Association” under the tutelage of “a person of questionable character and unsavory reputation.” Thus began the curious case of the two American Library Associations.

The exterior of the McCormick Mansion. An inconvenient office space or a mansion overrun by ghosts? From the ALA Archives.

Was ALA’s McCormick Mansion Haunted?

Cara Bertram October 27, 2026

Halloween is approaching and during this spooky season, the ALA Archives has been meditating upon one of ALA’s old headquarters, the McCormick Mansion. Why would ALA want to move out of the McCormick Mansion so quickly and destroy it? Was it because the mansion was … haunted?

USA PATRIOT Act files in the Office for Intellectual Freedom Subject File at the ALA Archives.

15 Years of Fear: ALA and the Patriot Act

ALA Archives October 23, 2026

October 26, 2001, marked the beginning of a 15-year-long struggle for the privacy rights of library users as a result of the USA PATRIOT Act being signed into law by President Bush. Prompted by the possibility of government agents ordering libraries to turn over patron information, ALA’s Washington Office created the “Guidelines for Librarians on the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act: What to do before, during and after a ‘knock at the door?’” which provided guidance on consulting legal counsel and reviewing policies.

A group of foreign delegates in Atlantic City during the ALA Fiftieth Anniversary Conference, October 1926.

Librarians Go on a Road Trip! The 1926 Foreign Delegate Post-Conference Excursion

ALA Archives October 15, 2026

In early October 1926, almost 60 librarians from 25 countries gathered in Atlantic City and Philadelphia to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the American Library Association along with more than 2,000 American librarians. By all accounts, the conference was a great success. But the best part of this all-expenses-paid trip to the U.S. didn’t happen during the actual meeting: When the conference ended, about 30 international delegates went on a multi-state excursion, visiting 12 cities in the span of two weeks.

How I Library podcast with Betty Turock

Celebrating ALA’s Birthday in Conversation with Dr. Betty Turock

Phil Morehart October 6, 2026

In a special episode of the “How I Library” podcast commemorating the 150th anniversary of the American Library Association, show host and I Love Libraries editor Phil Morehart speaks with one of the key figures in the history of the Association and librarianship, Dr. Betty Turock.