TheMassachusetts Library Association (MLA) is theMassachusetts,United States professionallibrary association that "advocates forlibraries,librarians, and library staff, defendsintellectual freedom, and provides a forum for leadership, communication, professional development, and networking to keep libraries vital." MLA publishes standards for library services to Massachusetts children and young adults. MLA sponsors an annual conference, as well as continuing education programs and organizational reports of interest. The current President of MLA is Esme Green, Director of theGoodnow Library in Sudbury.[1]
MLA was founded in 1890 as the "Massachusetts Library Club".[2] The gavel that has been passed down from president to president is said to be made from the wood of theUSSConstitution.[3][4] The MLA had a committee called The Art Club that created sets of photographs for travelling art exhibits that would rotate through Massachusetts member and associate libraries as early as 1900.[5]
In 1962 MLA's Intellectual Freedom Committee gave testimony before the Massachusetts Obscene Literature Control Commission opposing the suppression ofHenry Miller's bookTropic of Cancer supporting Massachusetts residents' freedom to read.[6][7]
MLA has acted as both a publisher of authors such asRobert Frost as well as an author on many state standards for library services to different populations.
Books We Like: Sixty-two Answers to the Question...[8]
Standards for Public Library Services to Children in Massachusetts[9]
Standards for Public Library Services to Young Adults in Massachusetts[10]
Bay State Libraries, the MLAnewsletter published quarterly (January, April, July, and October), focuses on items of interest to the association and to Massachusetts librarians in general.
The MLA has developed a Library Use Value Calculatorspreadsheet, which is used by many libraries throughout the United States.[11][12][13][14]
^"USS Constitution Gavel". Western Illinois Museum. Retrieved2018-04-26.Other locations that have a USS Constitution gavel include: the Governor's office of Massachusetts, the Maine Maritime Museum, Bath Maine, the Daytona Beach, Florida American Legion, the Rochester, New Hampshire chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the president of the Massachusetts Library Association, the Osterville Men's Club of Osterville Massachusetts and the Masonic Lodge of Kinston, North Carolina.
^Annual Report. Watertown, MA: Watertown Free Public Library. 1901.
^McCoy, Ralph Edward (1968).Freedom of the Press: An Annotated Bibliography. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.ISBN0-8093-0335-3.
^Robbins, Louise (1996).Censorship and the American Library. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 123.ISBN0-313-29644-8.
^Frost, Robers; Edward Weeks (1936).Books We Like: Sixty-two Answers to the Question. Boston: Massachusetts Library Association.
