The Louisiana Library Association (LLA) is a professional organization for

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

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

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties ...

. The LLA publishes ''The LLA Bulletin'' (est. 1937) and ''Louisiana Libraries'' magazine. It was originally founded in 1909, called the Louisiana State Library Association, after a call for a statewide library group from the New Orleans Library Club. An initial meeting of thirty people was held at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

in 1909 with the goal of increasing the number of trained librarians in the state and drafting library legislation. The main speaker was Chalmers Hadley from 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 ...

. The LLA fell into some disorder during and after World War I, and was reorganized in 1925. The LLA Convention or Conference began in 1909 has been held annually (except for 1914-1924, 1933, and 1945). LLA became a chapter member of the American Library Association in 1939, and has been a member since then with the exception of a period from March 5, 1963 through mid-1965 when the Executive Board of LLA resigned from ALA because the organization was not integrated. LLA had voted in 1947 to admit Black members, but because of state segregation laws had not been able to implement the change. Before 1965 the Louisiana Colored Teachers’ Association (later called the Louisiana Education Association) had a libraries section which counted public, school, and academic librarians among its members. The first Black president of LLA was Idella Washington who was elected in 1998. The Association bestows the Essae Martha Culver award for lifetime contributions to librarianship in Louisiana.Jumonville, Florence M. ''Essae M. Culver and the Genesis of Louisiana Parish Libraries'' LSU Press, 2019, p.177. In 2019 the award was given to Dr. Alma Dawson, the first African American so honored.

References

External links

Louisiana Library Association website

Southeastern Library Association website

Organizations based in Louisiana {{Authority control