Library Standards: ALA Standards
Overview of library standards, with particular emphasis on those established by the American Library Association (ALA).
Overview
Many units of the American Library Association have developed documents that give advice to librarians on various aspects of library service. These documents may be called "standards " or "guidelines". The ALA Standards Manual gives definitions of those terms, describes the authority of units to develop them, and includes advice on format and related sources. The categorized listing of ALA Standards & Guidelines includes documents entitled “standards” and “guidelines” as well as other documents of a similar nature entitled “statements,” “rules,” and “criteria.”
- ALA Guidelines and StandardsMany units of the American Library Association have developed documents that give advice to librarians on various aspects of library service. These documents may be called "standards " or "guidelines".
- ALA Standards ManualThis document was first published by the ALA Standards Committee in 1983, after some portions had been approved by Council at the 1982 Annual Conference. It has been revised several times, most recently by the Standards Review Committee in 2001. The current version is the same as the 2001 version, except that references to the SRC have been removed. SRC was discontinued by Council at the 2003 Annual Conference. At the same time, Council ruled that the Manual should continue. It is accessible on the ALA website (see the Section on Professional Tools, Subsection " Standards and Guidelines").