The Louisiana Library Association (LLA) is a professional organization for Louisiana's librarians and library workers. It is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. [1] The LLA publishes The LLA Bulletin (est. 1937) and Louisiana Libraries magazine.[2][3]
It was originally founded in 1909, called the Louisiana State Library Association, after a call for a statewide library group from the New Orleans Library Club.[3][4] An initial meeting of thirty people was held at Tulane University in 1909 with the goal of increasing the number of trained librarians in the state and drafting library legislation.[4][5] The main speaker was Chalmers Hadley president of the American Library Association.[4] The LLA fell into some disorder during and after World War I, and was reorganized in 1925.[2] The LLA Convention or Conference began in 1909 has been held annually (except for 1914-1924, 1933, and 1945).[2]
LLA became a chapter member of the American Library Association in 1939, and has been a member since then with the exception of a period from March 5, 1963 through mid-1965 when the Executive Board of LLA resigned from ALA because the organization was not integrated.[2][3][6][7] LLA had voted in 1947 to admit Black members, but because of state segregation laws had not been able to implement the change.[8] Before 1965 the Louisiana Colored Teachers’ Association (later called the Louisiana Education Association) had a libraries section which counted public, school, and academic librarians among its members.[9]
The Louisiana Library Association established its Awards program in 1944.[12]
The Association bestows the Essae Martha Culver award for lifetime contributions to librarianship in Louisiana.[13][14] In 2019 the award was given to Dr. Alma Dawson, the first African American so honored.
The Alex Allain Intellectual Freedom Award recognizes the contribution of an individual or a group who/which has actively promoted intellectual freedom in Louisiana. It is named for Alexander Allain, lawyer and library trustee who was first chair of the Louisiana Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee.[15][16]
James O. Modisette Awards are given in memory of James O. Modisette, a Louisiana Library Commissioner who worked with Essae M. Culver to develop library services in the state. [17]
Lucy B. Foote Award recognizing the contributions of subject specialists to the library profession in memory of Lucy B Foote, who made lasting contributions to Louisiana State Documents librarianship and special collections.[18]
The Louisiana Literary Award promotes books related to Louisiana.[19] The first award in 1949, [20] was to folklorist, Hewitt L. Leonard Ballowe, for Creole Folk Tales: Stories of the Louisiana Marsh Country.[21] Recent award winning books:
2024. Necropolis: Disease, Power, and Capitalism in the Cotton Kingdom by Kathryn Olivarius.[22]
2023. Monumental: Oscar Dunn and His Radical Fight in Reconstruction Louisiana by Brian K.Mitchell published by the Historic New Orleans Collection.[23]
The LLA offers multiple scholarships each year. The LLA Scholarship is for students enrolled in full-time study toward a Master's Degree in Library Science at Louisiana State University School of Library and Information Science. The Mary Moore Mitchell Scholarship is for part-time study. Recipients of both scholarships are selected by the Scholarship Committee with advice of the faculty at the Louisiana State University School of Library and Information Science.[33]
^Dawson, Alma, Florence M Jumonville, and Louisiana Library Association. 2003. A History of the Louisiana Library Association, 1925-2000. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana Library Association.
^Barrett, Kayla; Bishop, Barbara (1998). "Integration and the Alabama Library Association: Not so Black and White". Libraries & Culture. 33 (2). University of Texas Press: 141–161. JSTOR25548612.
^"Owen, Dolores B. and Hill, Sue. "The Louisiana Library Association: An Overview of Its History," pp.1-12 in Dawson, Alma, Florence M Jumonville, and Louisiana Library Association. 2003. A History of the Louisiana Library Association, 1925-2000. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana Library Association.
^"Dawson, Alma, "Awards," pp. 55-82 in Dawson, Alma, Florence M Jumonville, and Louisiana Library Association. 2003. A History of the Louisiana Library Association, 1925-2000. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana Library Association.
^"Dawson, Alma, "Awards," pp. 61-63 in Dawson, Alma, Florence M Jumonville, and Louisiana Library Association. 2003. A History of the Louisiana Library Association, 1925-2000. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana Library Association.
^Jumonville, Florence M. Essae M. Culver and the Genesis of Louisiana Parish LibrariesLouisiana State University Press, 2019, p.177.
^"In memoriam: Alexander Peter Allain 1920-1994", Louisiana Libraries, Winter 2006, 4.
^"Dawson, Alma, "Awards," p.59 in Dawson, Alma, Florence M Jumonville, and Louisiana Library Association. 2003. A History of the Louisiana Library Association, 1925-2000. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana Library Association.
^Jumonville, F.M. (2013). "). "Interested in Public Libraries": J. O. Modisette and the Contributions of a Louisiana Library Commissioner". Information & Culture. 48 (1): 112–133.
^Hoover, Jimmie H. “Lucy B. Foote: Librarian Extraordinaire: Compiled by Margaret T. Lane and Grace G. Moore Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1983, 25 Pages, Free upon Request. (Very Occasional Paper, Louisiana Library Association Documents Committee, Volume 5.).” Government Information Quarterly. 1984.
^"Dawson, Alma, "Awards," pp. 70-73 in Dawson, Alma, Florence M Jumonville, and Louisiana Library Association. 2003. A History of the Louisiana Library Association, 1925-2000. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana Library Association.
^Ballowe, Hewitt Leonard. 1948. Creole Folk Tales: Stories of the Louisiana Marsh Country. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
^Olivarius, Kathryn. Necropolis: Disease, Power, and Capitalism in the Cotton Kingdom. 2022. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
^Mitchell, Brian, author, Barrington S. Edwards, artist, Nick Weldon, editor Monumental : Oscar Dunn and His Radical Fight in Reconstruction Louisiana 2021 First ed. New Orleans, Louisiana: Historic New Orleans Collection.
^Bennet, Britt.The Vanishing Half2020. New York: Riverhead Books.
^Jumonville, Florence M. Spreading the Gospel of Books: Essae M. Culver and the Genesis of Louisiana Parish Libraries. 2019. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
^Fieseler, Robert W. Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation. 2018 First ed. New York, NY: Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company.
^The Tragedy of Brady Sims. 2017 First Vintage Contemporaries ed. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
^Brasseaux, Carl A. and Davis, Donald W. Ain’t There No More : Louisiana’s Disappearing Coastal Plain. 2017. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
^LeJeune, Keagan. Legendary Louisiana Outlaws: The Villains and Heroes of Folk Justice. 2016. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
^deGravelles, Charles N. Billy Cannon: A Long, Long Run Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2016.
^Campanella, Richard. 2014. Bourbon Street: A History. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
^Tooker, Poppy. 2013. Louisiana Eats! The People, the Food, and Their Stories. Gretna: Pelican Publishing Company.
^"Scholarships". Louisiana Library Association. Retrieved 24 March 2023.