Mississippi Library Association

National Library Week: Celebrating a Century of Professional Leadership

12th Apr 2009

Background information for MLA’s celebration of NLW:

Mission: Mississippi Library Association is to provide professional leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.

History: The Mississippi Library Association was organized October 29, 1909, by Whitman Davis, librarian at Mississippi A & M College. On January 13, 1968, the Association became a corporation with its official name being Mississippi Library Association, Inc. Offices were established at Millsaps College in October 1978, and its first Executive Secretary was hired. The office was moved to the library at Mississippi College in January 1982, and in August 1987 it was moved to the Mississippi Library Commission building at 1221 Ellis Avenue, Jackson, Mississippi. With the completion of the new Mississippi Library Commission building in November 2005, the MLA office moved to that facility at 3881 Eastwood Drive, Jackson.

April 12 – 18, 2009

Theme Celebrating a Century of Professional Leadership
1909 – 2009

Display ideas: Photos, etc. of your library and library leadership through the years.

What I need from you now: We’ve gotten lots of historic photos that we are using for the poster and bookmarks. Now we need brief bios (just a paragraph) of a librarian, trustee, politician, organization, or community leader whom you consider to be historically significant to the growth and development of libraries in your community and Mississippi. All types—public, school, academic, and special.

• Full name
• Title (library director, trustee, etc.)
• Dates of service to your library
• Brief description of the actions this person took that were significant to Mississippi Libraries

Try to have these in to me ashands@lowndes.lib.ms.us (email—word attachment would be nice) by March 20.

Here are examples from the Texas Library Association’s 100 year anniversary.

Clanton, Cleora
Cleora Clanton (1891-1968), director of the Dallas Public Library (1927-1955), lent her local expertise to library services expansion in Texas including services to minorities, branch library planning, and defending intellectual freedom. Serving as TLA president (1931-1933), she demonstrated that she was a woman of high principles when she protested the exclusion of Black librarians from a hotel during a TLA Conference in the 1930s.

Grothaus, Julia
In addition to presiding over TLA (1940-1941) and other organizations, Julia Grothaus (1886-1976) served as director of the San Antonio Public Library (1933-1957). She guided the library through the severe financial times of the Depression, vastly increased the number of branch libraries, and initiated bookmobile service to the city while staunchly resisting censorship attempts by the city council. Her leadership in library development and intellectual freedom served as a model for librarians across the state.

Johnson, Siddie Joe
An author, poet, and tireless advocate for children, Siddie Joe Johnson (1905-1977) was children’s librarian at the Dallas Public Library from 1938 to 1965. Known for her efforts to bring excellence to children’s library services, she was the recipient of the first ALA/Grolier Award given for outstanding contributions to children’s librarianship in 1954. Her work is legendary, and she received the TLA Librarian of the Year Award in 1964. The Children’s Round Table annually presents an award in her name to an outstanding children’s librarian.

Love, James and Mary (Mae)
Diboll businessman James L. Love (1912-1985) served as president of Friends of Texas Libraries and the Texas Library Trustee Association. He worked statewide to promote strong public libraries, particularly in small communities. The Temple Foundation endowed a fund in his honor to provide awards for public libraries serving communities of fewer than 10,000 people. Jim Love was recognized with the TLA Outstanding Services to Libraries Award in 1964. A strong supporter of libraries, Mae Love participates on the Dobie Committee, as does daughter, Marty Taylor Love.

Mann, Kathryn
A tireless volunteer and supporter of libraries for over 30 years, Kathryn has organized Friends’ groups, served as lay representative and/or chair of the Northeast Texas Library System (1967-1997), and headed TLA’s Friends and Trustees Round Table Chair from 1994-1995. The epitome of a southern lady who exudes all the wit and charm necessary to achieve success both locally and throughout the state, Kathryn trusts in the human spirit to focus on the good things in life. As one advocate said, “She is a listener, a dreamer, and a leader.”

Raines, Cadwell
Raines (1839-1906) was appointed librarian of the Texas State Library from 1891-1895 and again from 1899-1906. He took the small and neglected collection, which was decimated by a fire in the Capitol in 1881, and began the task of rebuilding the library and helping establish the future Texas State Archives.

Sellers, Wayne C.
A long-time citizen advocate for libraries, Wayne Sellers has worked for more than three decades for increased state funding for public libraries. A former newspaper editor and journalist, he literally packed his bags and moved to Austin for one legislative session to become a full-time, unpaid lobbyist for libraries. His service on the Advisory Council of the Northeast Texas Library System has helped to advance the development of regional library service in Texas. He received the TLA Outstanding Services to Libraries Award in 1981.

Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs
The voluntary, nonprofit Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs has served as an unwavering champion for Texas public libraries since its inception. At the organization’s first annual meeting in 1898, a resolution was passed stating that the establishment of public free libraries in Texas was the primary work of the Federation. This early library movement resulted in the establishment of a vast number of libraries across the state. Its persistent efforts were also the impetus for the creation of the Texas Library Association in 1902 and the Texas Library and Historical Commission in 1909.

Entry Filed under: Events,News
Posted on: March 9th, 2009