Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) | The American Library Association Archives

The Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) is responsible for the following activities: acquisition, identification, cataloging, classification, and preservation of library materials; the development and coordination of the country's library resources; and those areas of selection and evaluation involved in the acquisition of library materials and pertinent to the development of library resources. ALCTS has specific responsibility for:

1. Continuous study and review of the activities assigned to the division.

2. Conduct of activities and projects within its area of responsibility.

3. Synthesis of activities of all unites within the ALA that have a bearing on the type of activity represented.

4. Representation and interpretation of its type of activity in contacts outside the profession.

5. Stimulation of the development of librarians engaged in its type of activity, and stimulation of participation by members in appropriate type-of-library divisions.

6. Planning and development of programs of study and research for the type of activity fot the total profession (1).

The name change from Resources and Technical Services Division (RTSD) to ALCTS became effective on June 30, 1989 (2). The RTSD was established on January 1, 1957. It combined the former Division of Cataloging and Classification (established in 1900, and until 1940 the Cataloging Section), the Board of Acquisitions of Library Materials (created by Council in 1951), and the Serials Round Table (created by Council in 1929) (3).

Division was dissolved on September 1, 2020, and merged into a new division, Core.

1. ALA Handbook of Organization 1989/1990 and Membership Directory (Chicago: ALA, 1989), p. 40.

2. American Libraries, July/August 1989, p. 628.

3. ALA Bulletin, December 1957, pp. 862-863.