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

Linderfelt

Mr. Linderfelt’s Trouble: ALA’s Lost President, Part One

Cara Bertram July 22, 2026

In 1892, Klas August Linderfelt, the first librarian of Milwaukee Public Library (MLP), was arrested for embezzling $4,000. The arrest came as a shock to the library profession. Not only was Linderfelt the head of MLP, but he was also the president of both the American Library Association and the Wisconsin Library Association. And that’s just the beginning of this wild tale.

dList home page

The Future of Librarians: dLIST, a Story the Commons Keeps

Anita Coleman July 17, 2026

The history of the Digital Library of Information Science and Technology (dList), the library field’s first open access disciplinary repository for Library and Information Science scholarship, shows what happens when a profession’s stated values and its institutional choices diverge at a technological inflection point.

REFORMA members outside of the White House, June 25, 2019.

REFORMA and ALA: 55 Years of History

REFORMA July 8, 2026

ALA maintains partnerships with external organizations through its affiliates program. One of those is REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking. For more than 50 years, the two associations have been partners in the goal of providing better library services to Latino communities.

The cover of Books Challenged or Banned in 2001-2002 list by Robert P. Doyle.

For the Cornerstones of Our Communities: ALA and the Freedom to Read

Lisa Varga July 1, 2026

Shortly after ALA was founded, it became clear that libraries needed a voice in government. ALA’s intertwined Public Policy and Advocacy Office and Office for Intellectual Freedom are that presence, ensuring that libraries and library professionals receive the support that allow them to succeed at providing equitable access to information for all.

The Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Task Force marching in San Francisco's Pride Parade, June 1997. From the ALA Archives.

Out of the Closet and Onto the Shelves

ALA Archives June 24, 2026

The American Library Association’s (ALA) Rainbow Round Table is a group with a lot of firsts. Formed in 1970 as the Task Force on Gay Liberation, under ALA’s Social Responsibilities Round Table, they were the first profession-based gay organization.

Jessie Carney Smith in 1965, her first year as a university librarian at Fisk University in Nashville.

Blazing Trails: Stories from Pioneering Black Librarians

American Libraries June 18, 2026

In 2018, American Libraries spoke with five leading African-American librarians about their careers, the changes they have witnessed over the decades, and the current issues in librarianship. While no two people have the same story, all five interviewees note inclusivity as an important theme. They discuss libraries as safe havens, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the history and future of the Association, as well as their legacies within the profession.