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Idaho Library Association Records, 1915-1988

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Idaho Library Association
Title
Idaho Library Association Records
Dates
1915-1988 (inclusive)
Quantity
10 cubic feet
Collection Number
MG029 (collection)
Summary
Correspondence of officers, minutes of executive committee meetings, financial records, correspondence and other records of the various divisions and committees, and correspondence and other papers concerning the journal Idaho Librarian (1960-1986).
Repository
University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives
Special Collections and Archives
University of Idaho Library
875 Perimeter Drive
MS 2350
Moscow, ID
83844-2350
Telephone: 2088850845
libspec@uidaho.edu
Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Historical Note

The Idaho State Library Association was organized on December 29, 1915, at a meeting called by Margaret Roberts, librarian of the Free Traveling Library Commission of Idaho. The meeting was held in the Boise High School and was timed to coincide with the State Teachers Association meeting. About a dozen librarians attended the meeting and elected Gretchen L. Smith of Idaho Technical Institute in Pocatello as their first president. The first constitution stated the object of the association was "to promote the library interests of the state of Idaho."

Traveling in Idaho was difficult, distances were great and roads were not the best, and it was a rare conference when all officers of the organization could attend. In fact, in 1924 and 1928 no officers attended the annual conference. About 1926 it was decided to hold the conference every other year, alternating with district conferences. This practice continued through 1959 when annual conferences were again held.

The years from its founding to World War II were ones of patience and persistence on the part of Idaho's librarians. In spite of low funding, a disinterested population, and travel difficulties the association managed to survive. Although it was unable to operate during the war the situation improved with the war's end. When the association was reactivated it began publishing a journal, Idaho Librarian, whose first issue appeared in April 1945, and the association was also invited to become a chapter of the American Library Association.

The Idaho State Library Association was reorganized in November 1950, and the constitution revised in May 1951. The changed included separating the jobs of secretary and treasurer, they had been combined since 1919, designating the vice president as president elect, adding the PNLA representative and the ALA counselor to the executive board and forming the Membership, Legislative, Library Development, and Publication committees. Dues were set in graduated levels ranging from $1.00 to $3.00.

In 1953 the association was successful in obtaining passage of a bill replacing the three member State Library Commission, all elected officials with other full-time jobs, with a State Library Board consisting of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and three members appointed by the Governor.

In 1955 a constitutional revision added the editor of the Idaho Librarian to the Executive Board as a nonvoting member and added two more standing committees, Public Relations and School Libraries which later, in 1958, became a division rather than a committee.

In 1962 the association changed its name to the Idaho Library Association and on September 23, 1969 became an incorporated organization.

From its original membership of 13 individuals and one institution (Boise Carnegie Library), the ILA, according to 1988 figures, has grown to 450 individual and 27 institutional members.

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Content Description

The records of the Idaho Library Association span the years 1915 to 1988, with the bulk of the material covering the years 1948 to 1986.

The records include correspondence of the officers, minutes of executive board meetings, constitutions, bylaws, procedure manuals, cash books, budgets, financial reports and annual reports of various divisions and committees, as well as committee correspondence. There are also programs for annual conferences, correspondence relating to the planning of the conferences, and tape recordings of some conference proceedings. Finally the records contain correspondence and other material relating to the publication Idaho Librarian and some issues of the journal, both microfilm and paper copies. Although the archival holdings are not complete the Special Collections Library has a complete set of the journal.

Missing from the collection are the financial records from 1975/76 to 1977/78.

Mary Hemingway, widow of Ernest Hemingway, was asked to address the 1968 convention but due to previous commitments she declined. Her letter to President Edward Linkhart concludes, "Anyhow, I don't know anything about libraries." This letter is found with the 1968 speaker correspondence.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Since material in this record group was received at so many different times and was in no particular order it was decided to organize the whole group by function, first separating the material that could be identified as being the papers of a particular officer, then the records relating to divisions and committees, and finally records relating to the Idaho Librarian. Some early records were bound and these, unless relating to a committee, were placed with the secretary's records.

The President's correspondence is arranged chronologically by person holding the office.

The Secretary's Records, 1915-1986, contain the minute books, bound records of the association from 1948 to 1963, the organizational records (bylaws, constitutions, etc.), manuals, correspondence of the executive board, and membership lists. Each type of material is arranged chronologically.

Records of the Treasurer, 1916-1988, include cash books, budgets, financial reports, material relating to two Association for the Humanities in Idaho grants, tax information and correspondence. Although check registers were, as a rule, not retained those for 1980 to 1984 were kept since there are no other records for that period.

Another group of records relates to the various Divisions, Committees and Liaison Areas, 1957-1988. Included are annual reports of the committees as presented at the annual meeting, and records of the individual groups. For ease of filing and retrieval the committees are in alphabetical order, with papers in each folder arranged chronologically. Although the School Library Division became the Educational Media Section in 1985 this change is not reflected in the filing. Likewise when the College, University and Special Library Division became the Academic and Special Libraries Division no change was made in the filing.

The records of the Library Development Committee include the ACONDA (A Codification of New Directions for the Association) report, the Baillie Report on Regional Planning, and a revision of the interlibrary loan procedures.

It was not until 1963 that the Public Relations Committee was put in charge of National Library Week, but to maintain continuity all NLW material was placed with the records of this committee

Material relating to the Annual Conferences, 1924-1988, includes programs, correspondence related to planning, including correspondence with speakers, some tape recordings of speeches and videocassettes of Richard Etulain's speech "Roles of Women in Western Literature" from the 1984 conference.

Records relating to the Idaho Librarian, 1960-1988, include correspondence, financial records, mailing records and plans for issues, including some paste-ups and advertising copy.

The published issues of Idaho Librarian in the archives are not complete. Since, for the sake of continuity of location, all future issues of the journal will continue to be added to this manuscript group, this series is the only one which remains open.

Acquisition Information

The records of the Idaho Library Association were deposited in the University of Idaho Library, the designated repository of all ILA records, at various times through 1988.

Processing Note

The cash books give a detailed financial account of the association, therefore it was decided to discard all canceled checks, bank statements, and check registers, with the exception of the check registers for the years 1980 to 1984 where these are the only available records. Also discarded were invoices, receipts, duplicate deposit slips, ALA mimeographed material, duplicate copies of manuals, programs, and other print or near print material. Many recent accessions consisted of one or two folders which were placed in half-Hollinger boxes and counted as 0.5 cubic feet for statistical purposes. Through the combined processes of discarding, refoldering and reboxing the material was reduced by 10 cubic feet.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Library science--Societies, etc.--Idaho--History--Sources

Corporate Names

  • Idaho Library Association--Records

Titles within the Collection

  • Idaho librarian

Finding aid prepared by Judith Nielsen
1989.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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