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Special Libraries Association (SLA) is a professional association for librarian and information professionals working in business, government, law firms, banks, non-profit organizations, and academic institutions, among others. Special libraries include law libraries, news libraries, corporate libraries, museum libraries, and medical libraries. Special libraries are also sometimes known as "information centers."
SLA was founded in 1909 in the United States. It is now an international organization with over 11,000 members in over 80 countries. SLA is organized by Chapters (geographic) and Divisions (topical) and special interest groups. The association has a CEO (employee of the association) and an elected President (mandate of one year).
Members of SLA typically possess a master's degree in library or information science. Given the rapid adoption of information technologies for selecting, analyzing, managing, storing, and delivering information and knowledge, the average SLA member might be performing a range of services and employing a diverse mix of skills related to, but not exclusive of, library science.
Association activities include conferences, professional education, networking and advocacy.
History of the Association
SLA was founded in 1909 by a group of librarians who thought that libraries serving business, government, social agencies, and parts of the academic community were different from other libraries. These "special"--or more aptly, "specialized"--libraries at first were distinguished by being subject collections with a specialized clientele, but gradually it was recognized that their chief characteristic was that they existed to serve the organization of which they were a part. Their purpose was not education per se but the delivery of practical, focused, and even filtered information to the executives and other clients within their organizations. Specialist librarians, who have come to be called "information professionals," have a unique relationship as collaborators with their users.
Over the past one hundred years, SLA members have been working on the technological edge, moving into knowledge services, and adapting to new roles to keep up with the times. We are entrepreneurial--we embrace change and use our knowledge and vision to further the goals of our organizations. Corporate information professionals synthesize strategic information to help executives make the decisions necessary for business to thrive. Government info pros organize and deliver information for congressional, parliamentary, judicial, and executive leaders to make policy decisions. Academic special librarians organize, digitize, and deliver research information so professors and students can advance knowledge.
SLA is the principal association for information professionals and their strategic partners throughout the world. Its 11,000 members come from 75 nations. SLA's strengths in serving its membership are in three areas: learning, networking, and advocacy. These are the underpinnings that prompted the info-pioneers of 1909 to come together in a cooperative association, and they are still the fundamental benefits that SLA provides the info-pioneers of the 21st Century. In its Centennial Year, SLA is well-poised to promote and strengthen information professionals for the next one hundred years. SLA History page
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