The Kentucky Library Association (KLA) is a professional organization for

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

librarians A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

and library workers. It is headquartered in

Prospect, Kentucky Prospect is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city in Jefferson County, Kentucky, Jefferson and Oldham County, Kentucky, Oldham counties in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The Jefferson County portion is a part of the Louisville Metro govern ...

. It was founded on June 28, 1906, in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

with 52 charter members. Its original goal was to form a state library commission as well as to increase access to free state documents. William Frederick Yust was elected as the association's first president. The third conference the KLA took part in was a tri-state conference with Ohio and Indiana. In 2011 the KLA held a joint conference with the Kentucky School Media Association in order to work together with librarians on creativity, cooperation, and the impact of change. The KLA became a state chapter of the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

in 1917, and is a member of th
Southeastern Library Association
One of the KLA's daughter organizations, the Kentucky Public Library Association (KPLA), aims to encourage growth of its members, improve library service, and work with other organizations to do so.

Mission statement

"The mission of the Kentucky Library Association is to provide leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all".

Legislative activity

In 1938, the KLA was instrumental in the creation of the Library Extension Division (LED), a State Board for the certification of librarians. In 1940 the Kentucky legislature approved a bill allowing the Division to "accept and administer Federal funds" for libraries in the state, should they become available. The Library Service Act was signed by

President Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary ...

in 1956, this provided federal grants to promote public library services in rural areas. the Library Service Act grant was administered by the Library Extension Division. In 1945 the KLA advocated for library service to inmates, and the libraries of the ten Kentucky penal institutions were placed under the supervision of a trained librarian.

Publications

The KLA's first publication, ''Bulletin of the Kentucky Library Association'', began in 1933. The KLA currently publishes a scholarly journal, ''Kentucky Libraries'' (ISSN 0732-5452), as well as an informal newsletter, ''IN-FO-CUS''.

References

External links

Kentucky Library Association website

Southeastern Library Association

Organizations based in Kentucky {{Library-org-stub