Utah Library Association History

ULA at Eighty-Five

On June 12, 1912, several librarians from around the state gathered at the City and County Building in Salt Lake City to form the Utah Library Association, approve its constitution, and elect officers. The stated purpose was "to promote the library interests of the State of Utah." For the first few years, ULA dues also included associate membership in the National Education Association. After separating in 1915, the conferences for each were held about the same time to allow librarians to attend both. The second decade of ULA was marked by efforts to raise the standards of librarianship as a profession, to improve the education of librarians, and to plan for the certification of schol librarians.

During the 1930's, marked by the Depression, ULA faced financial problems similar to others. Spending was curtailed so the expansion of libraries and library services was extremely limited. A survey of public libraries in the state as to their resources, training of personnel, tax support, etc. was made during this period and a recommendation was forwarded to the state legislature that a state library commission be established with a trained librarian at its helm.

Lobbying has been an important activity of ULA since that time, and during the 1940's ULA lobbied in the state legislature to increase levies for libraries as well as provide the groundwork for establishing the state library. The Federal Libraries Act of 1956 assisted in rapid expansion of library services in Utah. In 1957 the Utah State Library Agency was created which for many years had a close connection to ULA. In the mid-fifties, the ULA newsletter was begun to provide better communication. In 1959-60, the ULA Constitution was revised to establish School, Public, University, and Special Library Sections. Membership has grown from 46 in 1912 to about 600 today.

For the past twenty years, emphasis has been on continuing education efforts with expanded conferences, section and roundtable workshops, and regional workshops held in different areas of the state each year. Since the early 1980's, the annual conferences have rotated between Salt Lake City and other cities in the state. Periodically MPLA joins Utah in their annual spring conference, and in 1992 ACRL held their conference jointly with ULA. ULA has seen much success in the legislature during the 1990's, taken strong stands on censorship, and supported the Utah Plan for libraries, all of which are improving library services in Utah. In recent years, technology has been efficiently employed by ULA and in 1997, the ULA web page was created (http://www.ula.org/).