Black and red text on a white background

“Happiness is Having Your Own Library Card” comes from the Peanuts comic strip. The comic strip is of Charlie Brown’s little sister, Sally, walking while holding her library card, she then looks at it, smiles, and sighs. In the last frame of the comic strip she says, “Happiness is having you own library card.” After this comic strip came out the American Library Association started using Peanuts comic strips to promote reading. 

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The American Library Association (ALA) is a non-profit organization that supports and promotes libraries, library professionals and library education. The ALA supported the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in hope that the states would ratify the ERA by 1982. 

The Equal Rights Amendment is a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution to guarantee equal rights for women. This amendment was first introduced in 1923, and in 1972 it passed both houses of Congress. Then later in 1977, the amendment received 35 of the 38 state ratifications. But five of these states would rescind their ratifications, and in 1982 the amendment ended and the ERA was not passed. The original deadline for this ratification was 1979. This was extended to 1982. There were not enough ratifications by the 1982 deadline. The amendment is reintroduced in every session of Congress. 

Illustration of eyes and nose and white text on a pink background

This button was created for the ALA’s National Library Week. Having begun in 1958, National Library Week is a week to celebrate the contributions of libraries and librarians in the United States. The theme for 1993-1996 was “Libraries Change Lives”.

The American Library Association is a non profit organization that supports and promotes libraries, library professionals and library education. The association was founded in 1876 and is the largest library association in the world.

Illustration of eyes and nose and white text on a blue background

This button was created for the ALA’s National Library Week in 1993. Having begun in 1958, National Library Week is a week to celebrate the contributions of libraries and librarians in the United States. The theme for 1993 was “Libraries Change Lives.”

The American Library Association is a non profit organization that supports and promotes libraries, library professionals and library education. The association was founded in 1876 and is the largest library association in the world.

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The White House Conference on Library and Information Service was held in 1979. The conference included all states and territories of the United States. From this conference there were resolutions for actions needed to enhance American libraries, literacy and library education.

The American Library Association is a non profit organization that supports and promotes libraries, library professionals and library education. The association was founded in 1876 and is the largest library association in the world.

Illustration of an eye with black text under it on a light yellow background

This button was created for the American Library Association’s Social Responsibilities Round Table Task Force on Women (now the Feminist Task Force), a unit within the ALA that provides feminist perspectives and initiatives related to libraries and librarianship.
The American Library Association is a non profit organization that supports and promotes libraries, library professionals and library education. The association was founded in 1876 and is the largest library association in the world.

Black text and a red heart

This button was created for the Library of Congress in support of copyright registration. The Library of Congress handles this registration for all new materials in the United States.

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This button was created for the American Library Association to promote libraries, books and reading.

The American Library Association is a non profit organization that supports and promotes libraries, library professionals and library education. The association was founded in 1876 and is the largest library association in the world.

White text on a blue background

This button was created for the American Library Association to promote libraries, books and reading.

The American Library Association is a non profit organization that supports and promotes libraries, library professionals and library education. The association was founded in 1876 and is the largest library association in the world.

White text on a light blue background

The ALA membership committee during the organizations centennial year, 1976, was managed by Fred Glazer of West Virginia who had the ambitious goal of reaching 50,000 member for the association that year.

The American Library Association is a non profit organization that supports and promotes libraries, library professionals and library education. The association was founded in 1876 and is the largest library association in the world.