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

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virgini ...

librarians A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time ...

and library workers. It is headquartered in

Prospect, Kentucky Prospect is a home rule-class city in Jefferson and Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the a ...

. It was founded on June 28, 1906, in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana borde ...

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, with 49,727 members ...

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 an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

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

Southeatern Library Association

Organizations based in Kentucky {{Library-org-stub