The bookplate on this issue's cover was one of several versions affixed to books furnished by the American Library Association (ALA) during World War I. This bookplate, dated 1917, was placed in books supplied from New England. It was perhaps the earliest WW I bookplate to bear the Association's name. Another bookplate, more widely used, was a facsimile of artist Charles B. Fall's promotional poster which depicted a soldier carrying an armful of books. Overseas, placards inscribed with the following notice signed by General John J. Pershing were distributed to military units: 

These books came to us overseas from home

To read them is a privilege

To restore them promptly unabused, a duty.

ALA's participation in the First World War, now a largely forgotten episode, was a significant, even inspiring chapter in the Association's history.

            When the "guns of August" shattered the fragile European balance of power in 1914, the library community was momentarily stunned. For the next three years, while President Wilson pursued an agonizing policy of neutrality, librarians proclaimed impartiality toward the belligerents. Beneath the rhetoric, however, was an unmistakable sympathy for the Allies and a distinctly anti-German bias. Following American intervention in April 1917, librarians accepted Wilson's challenge to "make the world safe for democracy." Along with embracing the national war spirit, librarians were exhilarated by the prospects for spreading the gospel of the library's value to society.

            The First World War represented a unique opportunity for the American Library Association. Founded in 1876, ALA had expended much energy defining the parameters of librarianship. In 1917, with a membership of 3,300 and an annual budget of $25,000, ALA did not seem capable of supplying library materials and services to an American army of several million men. Defying the odds, ALA made a contribution of surpassing importance.

            Shortly after the American declaration of war, ALA established a War Service Committee. This Committee accepted an invitation from the War Department's Commission on Training Camp Activities to furnish library service to U.S. soldiers in America, Europe, and other points. The Association was one of seven welfare groups affiliated with the Commission. ALA's wartime programs, known as the Library War Service, was directed by Herbert Putnam, Library of Congress, and later by Carl H. Milam. Between 1917 and 1920, ALA mounted two financial campaigns and raised $5 million from public donations; erected thirty-six camp libraries with Carnegie Corporation funds; distributed approximately 10,000,000 books and magazines; and provided library collections to 5,000 locations. Nearly 1,200 library workers served in libraries sponsored by the Association. Among the tangible legacies of the Library War Service program were the creation of permanent library departments in the army, navy, and Veteran's Bureau; founding of the American Merchant Marine Library Association; establishment of the American Library in Paris, and stimulation of the Association's activities in the fields of international relations and adult education.

Arthur P. Young

Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library

University of Alabama

[Originally published in Journal of Library History, vol. 14, no. 2 (Spring 1979): 210-212.]