100. The Library Association.
100. The Library Association.—This body, which is the centre and controlling force of British librarianship, was founded in 1877 at the First International Library Conference, which was held in London. In 1898 it received a Royal Charter by which it became the responsible representative body of the profession. Its objects as set out in the Charter are to unite all persons engaged or interested in libraries by means of conferences and meetings for the discussion of bibliography and all other phases of librarianship; to promote the better administration of libraries; to improve the position and qualifications of librarians; to promote the adoption of the Public Libraries Acts and the establishment of reference and lending libraries for use by the public; to watch and promote legislation affecting public libraries; to encourage bibliographical study and research; to publish information of service to the members or which in any way furthers the interests of the Association; to collect and maintain a library and museum; to hold examinations in librarianship and to issue certificates of efficiency; and to maintain in every lawful way the interests of libraries and their workers.
The Association is not purely professional. It seeks the co-operation in membership of library authorities, members of library committees and all persons who are interested in libraries, as well as library workers themselves. The presidency of the Association has until quite recently usually been held by a public man who was not a librarian. The executive is a council consisting of president, past presidents, honorary secretary, solicitor and treasurer, and twelve members of any grade representing London, and twenty representing the remainder of the United Kingdom, who, with the exception of the past presidents, are elected annually.
The membership consists of Honorary Fellows, Fellows, Members, Associate Members and Student Members. The Honorary Fellowship is given for distinguished service to the objects of the Association; Fellows are holders of the Library Association diploma, chief librarians who held office before December 1914, and, in some instances, librarians who are graduates of universities; Members are librarians[2] who hold four professional certificates and have had three years’ approved library experience, or librarians 25 years of age or more, who held office before December 1914 and have had not less than six years’ approved experience; Associate Members are librarians not qualified as Fellows or Members, and non-librarians; Student Members are persons under 25 years of age who are studying for librarianship; and libraries and institutions are received as Institution Members. Fellows and Members have the right of using the initials F.L.A. and M.L.A. respectively after their names so long as they remain subscribing members. The entrance fee to all grades of membership is one guinea, and the annual subscription is also one guinea, except for Student Members, who pay a half-guinea yearly.
The scheme of classification of members set out in the last paragraph has been in operation since 1914, and in course of time the classes will show the degrees of qualification possessed by their members. In 1914, however, many quite undistinguished people were made Fellows simply because they held the chief office in a library, however small or badly managed that institution might be. Hereafter, if the Council carries out its duties properly, as there is every reason to believe it will, only men and women qualified by a searching examination will become Fellows or Members. All classes of members (except student members, who do not vote) enjoy equal privileges in the Association.
The Association holds monthly meetings from about November to June in London, at which professional papers are read and discussed. It also holds an Annual Conference, usually early in September, when it is generally the guest of some municipality, and when the greater part of its members foregather for the discussion of library questions. The Annual Conference is the principal library event of the year, and every library worker who can should attend, as more is to be learned during that week than in many months of solitary reading or study of library problems. Library committees should not only encourage their librarians to attend; they should send delegates of their own members, and in the case both of these and of the librarians, defray their expenses. The papers and discussions are published in The Library Association Record, the monthly official journal of the Association, which is issued free to all members.
[2] The word “librarian” includes “library assistant.” After all, “librarian” is the name of a member of a profession, not the holder of a position.
101. Educational Work.
101. Educational Work.—From the standpoint of this book the most interesting part of the Association’s work is that of its Education Committee. The Committee holds examinations yearly in May, and the scheme of examination for the Diploma includes six provisional examinations, a language test, a thesis, and, if desirable, further oral examination, etc., as follows: