ALA Student Chapter Resources
Monthly Student Meetup
Join our monthly meetings with ALA staff and member leaders to stay informed, share ideas, and get the support you need as a student or as a leader of an ALA Student Chapter.
Meeting Schedule, Themes, Recordings, and Links will be posted below:
- Friday, Sep. 26th, 2025 at 3pm Central
- Registration | Recording | Theme: ALA 101
- Monday, Oct. 27th, 2025 at 3pm Central
- Registration | Recording | Theme: Student Chapters
- Friday, Dec. 5th, 2025 at 3pm Central
- Registration | Recording | Theme: State and Regional Chapters
- Monday, Jan. 26th, 2026 at 3pm Central - Canceled
- Friday, Feb. 27th, 2026 at 3pm Central
- Registration | Recording | Theme: Open Networking and Q & A
- Monday, March 23rd, 2026 at 3pm Central
- Registration | Recording | Theme: TBA
- Friday, April 24th, 2026 at 3pm Central
- Registration | Recording | Theme: TBA
- Monday, May 25th, 2026 at 3pm Central
- Registration | Recording | Theme: Get Ready for Annual!
Looking for more opportunities to connect live?
Join the ALA Membership Office Hours!
Have questions about your ALA membership? Want help finding tools and resources? Stop by our ALA Membership Office Hour to get answers.
Hosted by staff from the ALA Member Relations & Services office, these live sessions provide an opportunity for you to ask questions about your membership or resources and tools available to you, as well as a forum to ask for advice on navigating your ALA journey.
Encourages Ways to Participate in ALA
Join one of the ALA Round Tables. Of particular interest may be the New Members Round Table, which offers grants, scholarships, and awards.
Provides Information about Awards, Grants, Scholarships
Through its ALA Scholarship Program, the American Library Association (ALA) is committed to promoting and advancing the librarian profession. To demonstrate this commitment, the ALA and its units provide more than $300,000 annually for study in a master's degree in library and information studies from an ALA accredited program, or for a master's degree in school library media program that meets the ALA curriculum guidelines for a Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) accredited unit. See ALA-accredited programs of library and information services and AASL-CAEP School Librarianship Education Programs.
If you are considering a degree in library and information science, or if you know a student, library worker, or college graduate from an underrepresented group who might help shape the future of library services, the time is now to learn more about the American Library Association's Spectrum Scholarships.
Established in 1997, the Spectrum Scholarship Program is ALA's national diversity and recruitment effort designed to address the specific issue of under-representation of critically needed ethnic librarians within the profession while serving as a model for ways to bring attention to larger diversity issues in the future.
See also ALA Awards and Grants.
ALA Student Chapter Directory
Mentoring Opportunities
A list of information and resources to help you learn more about these transformative experiences whether you wish to mentor or be the mentee within ALA or affiliated organizations.
Volunteering at Annual Conference
Thanks for your interest in volunteering! Stay tuned for upcoming opportunities.
Provides Information about Jobs
Links to information about ALA Conference Placement Service, JobList, scholarships, and more, can be found at the ALA Office for Human Resource Development & Recruitment.
Want a great resume? Go to the NMRT Resume Review Service!
Provides Promotional Materials and More
If you would like an ALA leader to speak at your Student Chapter, or if you would like ALA promotional and informational materials, we will try to arrange this. Contact the Chapter Relations Office with all the particulars (i.e., who you would like to speak, when, on what topic, if any, etc.; what kinds of materials you would like, for example, membership brochures).
Accreditation
ALA-accredited master's programs can be found at colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Puerto Rico. These programs offer degrees with names such as Master of Library Science (MLS), Master of Arts, Master of Librarianship, Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS), and Master of Science. ALA accreditation indicates that the program has undergone an external review and meets the ALA Committee on Accreditation’s Standards for Accreditation of Master’s Programs in Library and Information Studies.
For a career as a school librarian in a pre-kindergarten through 12th grade setting, a master’s degree with a specialty in school librarianship from an educational unit accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) and recognized by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) is also appropriate.
ALA Student Chapters may be established at ALA or AASL/CAEP accredited programs.
ALA New Members Round Table Student Chapter of the Year Award
In the spirit of ALA's New Members Round Table, the Student Chapter of the Year Award is presented in recognition of a chapter's outstanding contributions to the American Library Association, their school, and the profession. The purpose of the award is to increase student involvement in ALA through student chapters, and to recognize future leaders in the profession.
