Professional Organization

‘The American Library Association’ (ALA) was the earliest non-governmental library organization to be formed and most individuals have joined the association for different  reasons.  It was founded in 1876 and its headquarters are located in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest library association with a membership record of over 60, 301 individuals. ALA membership is open to any willing persons and organizations, and this is one of the factors that have enabled it to expand and grow significantly in size (“About ALA,” n.d.). A larger number of its members include library organizations and librarians. The association’s international members account for only an approximate 3.5% of the total number of members, while the rest bigger number is made up of people living and working in America. 

The primary purpose of the ALA is “to provide leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all” (“About ALA,”  n.d.). The strategic decisions are set on a time frame of three to five years and they are used by the association as a measure of progress as well as guidelines that facilitate the achievement of the association’s targets and goals (“About ALA,” n.d.). 

Description of Conference

ALA’s annual conference 2018 taking place from 4th -7th July was hosted in VU Griffioen Cultural Centre in Amsterdam, and the preconference workshops were held at the VU Metropolitan Building and Buitenveldertselaan 3 (“14th ALA conference,” n.d.). The theme of the conference was defined as “Towards Language Aware Citizen.” This theme was raised in attempts to make people realize the importance and the roles played by language every day. The conference would create language awareness among people and make them stop overlooking the possibilities and effects of language, which are at times dangerous or interesting at times. The scholars invited to the conference talked and expounded on data and information that drew insights from analyzed linguistics, analyzed language perceptions, among other language-related topics. 

Among the major topics and subthemes that were discussed in the conference included the topic of language awareness, education and learning. Other topics that were discussed at the conference included language awareness, culture, community and identity (“Call for papers,” 2018). In this conference, people were taught how to differentiate their language depending on their immediate environment. For example, the librarians were taught on the way they would apply different language while in their profession from the normal language they apply when they are in informal contexts with their friends and families (“Call for papers,” 2018). The conference involved teaching people about the appreciation of language in different contexts.

In this 14th ALA conference, several scholars covered the topic Language awareness, culture, community and identity. This involved information about the variation and diversity of language across different cultures. Language changes across different cultures and people from different cultures may experience challenges while trying to understand each other due to the existing diversities among their background cultures (“Call for papers,” 2018). Language is also influenced by gender where some language and vocabulary is mainly used by a certain gender thereby setting them aside from other people. People were also taught about the use of language in a non-discriminatory manner that would ultimately cause unity among people from different backgrounds and cultures. The present members were taught the importance and roles played by language in facilitating communication. 

Personal Applications

In the reading about this organization, I have learned about the roles of language in the process of communication. Apart from being the main channel of communication, language is able to influence the kind of communication between or more people. It determines whether people will understand each other or not. Language facilitates interaction among people. When people share a common language, they are able to speak and understand each other with ease. This makes the whole interaction process effective. However, at times people may come from different cultures and backgrounds, and may subsequently have different languages. In such a case, the parties may have issues and strong challenges in understanding each other. 

Moreover, different languages are used in different contexts. One can be able to judge the context in which the parties engaging in communication are interacting. The use of a formal language means that parties are engaging in official activities while the use of local languages may imply that such people are interacting from an informal context. Language affects the way people express their ideas and the way other people perceive them. It may facilitate the understanding of the ideas or further pose a barrier, making effective communication between parties even harder. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, ALA, being the first library organization to be formed, brags to have the biggest membership count among all the other library associations. The association holds their annual conferences for a multiple of days with definite themes which are discussed by various selected scholars throughout the duration of the conference (“About ALA,”  n.d.). Apart from focusing on their progress, the annual conferences are also platforms for teaching the various trending issues relating to learning. The 2018 conference focused on the importance of language in facilitating communication. By reflecting on the various topics covered in this conference, I have learned the need or language and its role in the processes of communication among people. 

References

14th ALA conference. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ala2018.com/

About ALA. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aboutala/

Call for papers. (2018, May 2). Retrieved from https://ala2018.com/call-for-papers/