MLA Recognized with Two Awards!

We are proud to share that MLA has won the Michigan Humanities Outstanding Humanities Organization Award!

The Michigan Humanities Outstanding Humanities Organization recognizes organizations, corporate funders, foundations, and organizational partners that have made a lasting contribution over time (five years or more) to the cultural life of their communities or our state through their active support of and involvement in promoting public humanities.

Note From Debbie

A new fiscal year, which begins on July 1^st, is coming up fast and MLA is again preparing to look over our strategic plan, priorities and direction.  I know you will all agree that our world has changed quite drastically, and the library profession must address challenges that a few short years ago were nowhere on our radar. What was important yesterday, may now be irrelevant. Challenges that once were thought solved…back on the plate.

In 2019, the MLA Board adopted a new mission, and a new vision statement that we continue to believe are relevant, address the needs of the field, and address the achievements of MLA. 

MLA’s mission – The Michigan Library Association will lead the advancement of all libraries through advocacy, education and engagement.

MLA’s vision – The Michigan Library Association is an indispensable resource and valued leader, partner and advocate for Michigan libraries.

These statements guide our work. At the same time, we also took time to develop a robust and deep-rooted set of guiding principles and beliefs – diving deep to find commonly held truths that define our culture and beliefs. Our way of working is equally important as what we do. If we are to be effective, we must protect and advocate for these guiding principles in all that we undertake – and right now, our world demands it of us. 

2023 MLA Equity Fund Grants

The 2023 MLA Equity Fund Grant application is open through June 2, 2023. Equity Fund Grants aim to reduce financial barriers to professional development opportunities, support individuals currently underrepresented in the library profession, and uplift the professional development of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, North African, and Middle Eastern individuals. Funds provide resources to be used for memberships, attendance at workshops, educational events, or conferences of the applicants’ choosing, or for other purposes that applicants believe increase their ability to impact and transform the library profession.

Michigan Library Advocacy Day

On Tuesday, April 25 the Michigan Library Association hosted its first in-person Michigan Library Advocacy Day in more than a decade. The sold-out event brought together 125 library advocates representing public, school, academic, tribal, and special libraries from all over Michigan to share the message that Strong Libraries = A Stronger Michigan.

Youth Literary Awards Top Ten Titles

Check out the top titles of the 2023 Mitten, YouPer and Thumbs Up! Awards! Flyers, awards seals, and award banners are available and free to use. Please use these resources at your library to help us promote MLA Youth Literary Awards and the amazing job our workgroups do in selecting the very best books for youth! Download the Top Ten List Flyers linked below.

The winners and honor books will be announced at the 2023 MLA Youth Literary Awards event: Save the date for Friday, June 16 at 10:00 AM, and plan to watch the announcement on MLA's Facebook page!

Note From Debbie

In March 2023, the Michigan Library Association contracted with EPIC-MRA, a full-service survey research firm with expertise in Public Opinion Surveys and Market Research Studies. EPIC-MRA has a proven track record of producing accurate and useful research data based on public perceptions and opinions. While we have been using national studies (like those produced by ALA and EveryLibrary) to prove that book banning and censorship issues are not tolerated by the majority of voters in the country, we felt that we needed solid Michigan data to back this up.

Our work with EPIC-MRA has produced a statistically valid, stratified survey of 847 voters in Michigan regarding awareness of, and attitudes toward, the increasingly intense and coordinated efforts to dictate the collection content of local public libraries. We produced a statewide summary as well as 11 regional summaries based on the Michigan Cooperative Library regions. We will be disseminating the full summary of findings as well as the regional summaries within the next two weeks.