ABSTRACT
The Library Association is a professional association with a royal charter, which gives it some legal privileges, and lays on it certain obligations. The royal charter was granted on 17th February, 1898, but the Association came into being as the Library Association of the United Kingdom at an international conference of librarians held in London in October, 1877. One of the conditions of registration, after passing the requisite examinations in librarianship, is service in a library approved by the Library Association, and both registration of librarians and approval of libraries for this purpose are carried out by the Membership Committee. The Library Association has advanced from small beginnings and voluntary officers to a complicated organisation with a yearly expenditure of some 25,000. It has advised many library authorities on the development and improvement of their service; and it maintains contact with other bodies interested in the work of librarianship throughout the world.
