Getting Involved: Divisions, Round Tables, and Ethnic Caucuses

Divisions, Round Tables, and the Ethnic Caucuses are great ways to connect with ALA members who share your interests and to start shaping the future of libraries and librarianship. All of them are smaller units within the ALA, but what’s the difference?

Divisions are groups within the ALA focused on types of libraries, types of services, or particular areas of interest. Most have an additional membership fee, with a discounted student rate. Many have additional interest groups within the division.
A few examples:
ACRL – Association of College & Research Libraries
PLA – Public Library Association
YALSA – Young Adult Library Services Association

Round Tables groups whose subject spans divisions, such as the Intellectual Freedom Round Table, the Film & Media Round Table, and the New Members Round Table–we’ll be featuring that one next week. Their additional membership ranges from free to $10 membership.
Check out the whole list at http://www.ala.org/rt/!

The ethnic caucuses are the American Indian Library Association (AILA), the Asian Pacific American Library Association (APALA), the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA), the Chinese American Library Association (CALA) and REFORMA—the National Association to Promote Library Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking. Their focus (broadly) is improving library services for their associated communities, and providing professional support for and recruiting of librarians and library staff of color. The all-caucus conference, previously every 6 years but now every 4, is called the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color. There are also often panels and meetings at the biannual ALA conferences.