1. American Library Association (ALA)
2. ALA Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA)
3. Library Support Staff Interests Round Table (LSSIRT)
   of the American Library Association
4. COLT (Council on Library/Media Technicians)
5. ALA Fact Sheet: Number Employed in Libraries
6. 3rd Congress on Professional Education: Focus on Library Support Staff (COPE III)

American Library Association (ALA)
http://www.ala.org/
The American Library Association (ALA) is the oldest and largest and most influential library association in the world with over 64,000 members. Members are librarians, library support staff, trustees, publishers and other library advocates.

Mission
The mission of the American 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.

ALA Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA)
http://www.ala-apa.org/
ALA-APA is a nonprofit professional organization established “to promote the mutual professional interests of librarians and other library workers.” To that end, the ALA-APA is focused on two broad areas:

• Certification of individuals in specializations beyond the initial professional degree.
• Direct support of comparable worth and pay equity initiatives, and other activities designed to improve the salaries and status of librarians and other library workers.

The ALA-APA is a companion organization to the American Library Association (ALA), an educational association established in 1876 to “promote library service and librarianship.”

Library Support Staff Interests Round Table (LSSIRT)
of the American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/lssirt/lssirt.htm

The purpose of our round table is:

1. To provide an arena within ALA for addressing a wide variety of issues of concern to library support staff, including but not limited to basic training programs, education, career development, job duties and responsibilities;
2. To foster communication and networking among all people working in libraries; and
3. To be responsible for the timely dissemination of information to local, regional, state, and national support staff organizations.

LSSIRT's membership is composed of proactive library personnel who are essential to the cultural, educational, and economic life of our nation's libraries. We represent academic, public, school, corporate and special libraries. We have an interest in and activity with other ALA groups and interrelate with all library personnel.

COLT (Council on Library/Media Technicians)
http://colt.ucr.edu/
COLT is an international organization which works to address the issues and concerns of library and media support staff personnel.

COLT Objectives

• To function as a clearinghouse for information relating to library support staff personnel
• To advance the status of library support staff personnel
• To initiate, promote and support activities leading toward the appropriate placement, employment and certification of library support staff personnel
• To promote effective communication between and among library staff at all levels
• To initiate, promote and support research projects and publications for the advancement of knowledge and understanding among library support staff personnel
• To study and develop curricula for the education of library support staff and develop appropriate standards for that education
• To cooperate usefully with other organizations whose purposes and objectives are similar to and consistent with, those of COLT

Number Employed in Libraries
(From ALA Fact Sheet 2:
http://www.ala.org/ala/alalibrary/libraryfactsheet/alalibraryfactsheet2.htm)

The library work force includes librarians and other professionals, paraprofessionals, clerical and technical personnel. Statistics are not available for each category of personnel in each type of library. Instead this fact sheet summarizes the latest available statistics on the two major categories -- librarians and other professionals, and other paid staff -- in the three types of libraries for which reliable national figures are available from National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

The numbers for public, academic, and school librarians below come from three NCES surveys: Public Libraries in the United States: Fiscal Year 2001 (2003); Academic Libraries: 2000 (2003); and unpublished tabulations from the Schools and Staffing Survey, 1999-2000 (2002), respectively.

Comparable figures for employment in special libraries (e.g. libraries serving businesses, scientific agencies, hospitals, law firms, and nonprofit organizations) are not available. However, based on information available from several related associations in 2001, we estimate that approximately 15,307 librarians work in special libraries, bringing the total number of librarians to over 137,000. At this time, it is not possible to estimate the number of the other paid staff in special libraries.

3rd Congress on Professional Education: Focus on Library Support Staff (COPE III)
http://www.ala.org/congress/
May 16-17, 2003
College of DuPage
Glen Ellyn, IL

Target Outcomes For Congress

1. To give voice to the three main issues indicated in the Library Support Staff Interests Roundtable survey of 1997 and to define strategies for change:
   a. Career ladders (few opportunities for advancement).
   b. Compensation not appropriate to level of education, experience, and
       responsibilities.
   c. Lack of access to continuing education and training opportunities.
   
2. To find ways to address the shortage of library staff members, including the recruitment of library support staff members and their changing roles due to the shortage of librarians.
   
3. To define the role of library support staff members in the American Library Association and, also, to define the responsibility of ALA toward library support staff members.
   
4. To define ways to express mutual respect between all who staff America's libraries and to define ways to celebrate the commonality of purpose among library staff members.