Historical Highlights
Historical Highlights
As early as 1830, the shrewdly observant Alexis de Tocqueville noted, as part of his infamous political and cultural analysis, the American genius for forming committees and associations. It was only natural, then, that those who were energetically bringing American libraries out of their ivory towers should use this talent within the profession of librarianship. The American Library Association was founded in 1876. It progressed so rapidly that in 1910 the Encyclopedia Britannica called it the largest and most important association in existence.
Specialized problems in librarianship were recognized almost simultaneously, as evidenced by the formation of the National Association of State Libraries in 1889, the Medical Library Association in 1898, and the American Association of Law Libraries in 1906. The stage was well set for the organization of other specialized library interests. In 1904, under the leadership of Mr. John Cotton Dana, Newark's Public Librarian, a new Business Branch of the Free Public Library of Newark was established. This branch was developed to attract corporate executives into the library and make it easy for them to make use of reference and research services. This new concept was enhanced with skilled staff on hand to help guide these executives through the information.
In March of 1909, Ms. Sarah B. Ball, in charge of the Newark collection, attended a joint conference of the New Jersey Library Association and the Pennsylvania Library Club in Atlantic City. There she met Ms. Anna B. Sears, librarian of the Merchants' Association of New York. Together, they explored the idea of closer cooperation between their libraries and librarians in the New York metropolitan area. Each carried these ideas back to their supervisors, and a small planning session was scheduled for New York. The meeting was attended by Mr. Dana, Ms. Ball, Ms. Sears, and Ms. Sears' supervisor, Mr. F.B. DeBerard, statistician of the Merchants' Association. The meeting resulted in letters to specialized libraries suggesting a gathering of interested persons during the July meeting of ALA.
Mr. Dana delivered a paper at the ALA meeting entitled "Municipal, Legislative Reference, Commercial, Technical, and Public Welfare Libraries." He brought attention to the ideas of Ms. Ball and Ms. Sears and invited those "who may be interested in this movement" to stay after the close of the session. The ideas that came from that March gathering in Atlantic City were intensively discussed by a group of 26 librarians on the veranda of the Mt. Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, NH. The participants in this "Veranda Conference" decided that the demands of their jobs had actually created a new kind of librarianship -- that of library service geared to meet the needs of specialized situations. These librarians were breaking completely new ground. There were no patterns to follow. They had to play it by ear -- a challenging and often difficult feat. They felt they had everything to gain by forming a working group to tackle their problems and serve their collective specialized interests. Thus, the Special Libraries Association was formally organized on July 2, 1909, with Mr. Dana as its first president. With the founding of this new organization, complete with its own Constitution, the term "special library" was born. The first conference of the new Association was held in New York City on November 5, 1910, with approximately 48 members in attendance.
As history would show, SLA had "hitched its wagon" to the era responsible for, arguably, the most spectacular scientific and industrial developments the world has ever known. The very year of its founding was the year Henry Ford set up the first assembly line to produce his revolutionary Model-T automobile. The years that followed saw the birth and development of aviation, motion pictures, radio, and television. An industrial and business environment was born, one that produced the material to win two world wars and split the atom. The half century also saw far-reaching social changes -- the universal concern for social welfare from "square deal" to "new deal," sweeping developments in public health and medicine, and the labor movement, to mention only a few. The information produced from these monumental developments led to an overwhelming flood of knowledge. Access to this knowledge had become as vital to industrial and scientific success as good machinery. It was necessary to devise more efficient methods and tools to separate the needed information from the mass. Special libraries were on the ground floor of an effort that would continue to gain momentum over the years to come.
The Association Office
In the usual way of young associations, the management of SLA was at first handled by the volunteer services of the members -- and hard-working members they certainly were. In 1927, a general office with a part-time paid secretary, Ms. Mary H. Brigham, was established in Providence, RI. In 1928, SLA's Charter of Incorporation was issued in the "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation." The office was moved to New York in 1931, where free space was provided by Standard Statistics Company (under persuasion of its librarian, Ms. Eleanor Cavanaugh). Ms. Rebecca B. Rankin served there as national secretary from 1931 until 1933, when the first executive secretary, Ms. Elizabeth Lois Clarke, took charge. In 1939, the Association took over financially independent quarters at 31 East Tenth Street in Manhattan. Ms. Kathleen B. Stebbins became executive secretary in 1940, and was succeeded by Ms. Marian Lucius in 1953. After the resignation of Ms. Lucius in 1959, Mr. Bill M. Woods served as executive secretary (later executive director) until 1967. During the summer of 1967, while Ms. Eleanor B. Gibson was acting executive director, the Association's offices were moved to new facilities at 235 Park Avenue South in Manhattan. Mr. George H. Ginader served as executive director from September 1967 to July 1970. He was succeeded by Mr. Frank E. McKenna in October 1970, who served until his death in November 1978. Mr. Richard E. Griffin served as acting executive director from November 1978 until July 1979, when Dr. David R. Bender was appointed executive director. In August 1985, SLA completed its move to new headquarters in Washington, DC. With this move to its own building at 1700 Eighteenth Street, NW, SLA had, for the first time, the necessary space for future growth.
Publications History
After its organization in 1909, the new association lost no time in establishing its voice. In 1910, the serial publications program was established to provide a vehicle to communicate Association news, professional opportunities, and information affecting the profession to the membership. These publications also helped to serve as a forum for the exchange of research and information impacting the profession. Its first journal,
Special Libraries, began as an eight-page pamphlet in January 1910, with Ms. Sears acting as editor. The April 1910 issue of
Special Libraries contained the first directory of special libraries, devoted to 23 subject fields. Book lists and bibliographies in high demand were constant features. In 1916, editor Dr. John A. Lapp effectively defined "the basic purpose of the special library, namely to put knowledge to work."
This gave the Association its motto -- "Putting Knowledge to Work ®." The serial publications program has considerably expanded since its 1910 inception.
Special Libraries was published monthly from 1910 to 1980, when it became the Association's quarterly scholarly journal. Publication of the
SpeciaList monthly newsletter, detailing Association and member news, also began in 1980. The four-page newsletter had increased to eight pages by 1989. At that time, the demand for more Chapter and Division news, feature articles, and advertising allowed SLA to double the size of
SpeciaList to 16 pages. SLA's membership directory,
Who's Who in Special Libraries, was first published as a separate publication in 1981. In January 1997,
Special Libraries and
SpeciaList were retired, welcoming a new, more technologically attentive and advanced 48-page glossy magazine --
Information Outlook.
The Structure Evolves
The groundwork for SLA's present structure of divisions representing different subject fields or special types of organizations was laid at the Association's first New York meeting in 1910. At that time, committees were formed to consider the problems of agricultural libraries, commercial associations, insurance libraries, legislative and municipal reference libraries, membership libraries, public utility libraries, and sociological and technical libraries. These original committees were initially formalized into groups and later into divisions. The divisions are important and unique because they demonstrate the integration of the library function into a subject field, operations of an organization, or a new technology.
The idea of local meetings was popular and spread very rapidly. At first, such groups were called "Responsibility Districts," each one presided over by a "District Head." The first one was formally set up in Boston in 1910. By 1913, the United States and Canada were divided into 14 districts, and the district heads became an advisory board to act with the executive officers of the Association. In 1924, the SLA Constitution was amended to call these local organizations chapters instead of districts, and to provide for their full affiliation with the Association. While helping with technical problems, these regional meetings provided an ideal medium for mutual acquaintance and for the constant exchange of information about the resources in member libraries. This informal exchange of information, a potent factor in everyday service, has been called the special librarian's "secret network." Without it, individual libraries would not be able to concentrate so economically in their own specialized fields.
The Advisory Council was first conceived in 1919 as an aid to the Executive Board. In 1956, it was formally organized with its own officers to serve as a medium to express the opinions of the diverse elements in the Association. With the Bylaws revision of 1974, the council was reconstituted as the Chapter Cabinet, consisting of presidents and president-elects of chapters, and the Division Cabinet, consisting of chairs and chair-elects of divisions.
Among the committees organized at that first SLA meeting, two were concerned with Association-wide problems -- publications and publicity. A committee on special library training was formed in 1913, one regarding classification scheme studies in 1914, and one focused on employment in 1917. Very basic problems of special libraries were recognized from the outset. In today's Association, there are committees on standards, consultation services, professional development, networking, strategic planning, government relations and public relations, to name only a few. Other committees throughout SLA's history have devoted their efforts to specific projects. For example, in 1913 there was a committee to investigate the use of methods of handling and filing newspaper clippings; today there is a committee on copyright law implementation.
The growth and complexity of the Association's activities added coordinating units to the committee structure. The Committee on Committees is a permanent monitor for unit activity. On January 1, 1989, SLA established its first caucus, the Solo Librarians Caucus. SLA caucuses were instituted as informal focus groups developed to facilitate the interaction of members who share a common interest not covered by a chapter, division, or committee of the Association. In 1991, Diverse Issues, Labor Issues, Natural History Caucuses were authorized, and the Solo Librarians Caucus had expanded to the point that it became a division.
Many changes and opportunities face the profession and the Association. Looking to the future, there will always be the excitement of new challenges. The Special Libraries Association and information professionals will meet them tomorrow as they have in the past. New technologies and developments regarding the retrieval of information are giving the special librarian the chance to be at the forefront of a powerful movement again -- putting knowledge to work.
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