Professional Associations

For this blog post, I will be looking at different professional organizations which I feel will be helpful to me in my career as a librarian.  They are the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).  I feel the YALSA will provide many resources to me in my intended career as a children’s/young adult librarian, and the IFLA will allow me to connect with librarians around the world in order to increase my awareness of the profession on an international level.

The YALSA is a division of the American Library Association (ALA) geared towards librarians and support staff who provide services to teens.  There are over 5,000 members including youth librarians, professors at graduate schools, graduate students, support staff at libraries, and many others.  Membership categories include categories for salaried workers as well as for non-salaried workers and students.  Benefits include access to thousands of dollars in grants and scholarship, as well as contests and stipends.  Members of YALSA also have access to free webinars, and free subscriptions to the organization’s quarterly journal (YALS) and weekly e-newsletter (YALSA E-News).  In addition, membership provides the opportunity to connect with others in the field.  The YALSA has members from all 50 states as well as international members so the wealth of information available through these connections is certainly valuable. 

According to a statement on the IFLA’s website,

“The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the library and information profession.” (IFLA, 2014)

The IFLA was founded at an international conference in Scotland in 1927 and is headquartered in The Netherlands.  Membership in the IFLA provides opportunities to network with others in the profession on an international level, and to have a voice in issues that affect the profession globally.  Members also receive a free subscription to the IFLA’s peer-reviewed journal, which is published quarterly, and a discounted registration fee to the organization’s annual conference. 

What I like about both of these organizations is that they allow members to connect with others in the profession on a broad (geographically and numerically) level.  The YALSA is closely linked to my own career goals of becoming a young adult or children’s librarian (there is also the Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC), which I will consider joining as well).  The IFLA will allow me to connect with others in the profession on an international level and to be aware of issues that affect all those in the profession.  I am strongly considering joining both of these organizations as I feel they will benefit me greatly in my career.

IFLA (12 May 2014). About IFLA. Retrieved from http://www.ifla.org/about