Two youth-related divisions of the American Library Association, which originated as one association in 1941 but have been separate entities since 1957, have announced plans to reunify. The Young Adult Library Services Association, dedicated to serving teens, will be dissolved and its membership activities merged with the Association for Library Service to Children.

ALSC and YALSA serve distinct populations of library patrons, and members of one or both divisions want to preserve their unique missions. “One of the things I’m very proud of is the fact that leadership from both sides are committed to keeping the different identities [of ALSC and YALSA], for teen programs and children’s,” YALSA 2024–2025 president Yvette Garcia told PW.

Garcia said the divisions had formed a transition working group, with plans for a one-year transition process with close attention to both divisions’ bylaws and parliamentary procedures. “We need to figure out what processes are universal [for both divisions] and where can we save some time and resources,” such as coordinating staffing, Garcia explained. For YALSA, there will be questions of “those unique, teen-essence projects that we need to keep” in order to represent young adult services accurately, she added. “We’re a member-centered organization, and we’ve got leaders from both divisions that are committed to making this go as smoothly for our members as possible.”

YALSA may be best known to the public for its high-profile annual prizes, including the Michael Printz Award, the Excellence in Nonfiction Award, and the Alex Awards. ALSC facilitates the Newberyand Caldecott Medals as well as the Mildred L. Batchelder Award, among others. The divisions co-sponsor some prizes, including the Pura Belpré Award and the Odyssey Awards for audiobook production. Plans for these significant industry awards will be given close attention by the transition committee.

Although the change is painful, the divisions’ leadership says it’s necessary. YALSA’s operational budget has been in the red for eight of the past 10 years, and it has faced leadership challenges recently. Tammy Dillard-Steels departed after serving as YALSA executive director from 2019–2022, and LaMoya Burks agreed to serve as interim ED. In November 2023, former YALSA president Candice Mack was announced as the division’s executive director, but suddenly resigned, whereupon ALSC executive director Alena Rivers stepped in as interim ED of YALSA. Rivers continues to hold both ED positions.

In a report to YALSA’s membership during ALA’s 2024 Annual Conference, then-president Colleen Seisser announced that YALSA strategic planning had been delayed and that YALSA “continues to focus on reorganizing and realigning the division as a result of staff resignations and financial challenges.” She noted that YALSA leadership was conducting a review to ensure the programming “meets member needs and falls within a strong financial plan,” acknowledging that “YALSA activities have operated under reduced staffing capacity as additional staff positions opened and have not been replaced.”

Both divisions have seen attrition too. ALSC president Rob Bittner, who looked at the past 20 years, said that YALSA’s membership hit a peak of more than 5,600 members in 2007; the membership had diminished to about 2,900 by 2024. ALSC’s membership hit a high point in 2018, with more than 4,300 members, and last year it was down to about 3,200. Bittner attributed the membership declines to “a combination of Covid as well as general budget cuts” in 2020 and after.

“Members have had more difficulty getting funding support from their libraries and other institutions than they used to,” Bittner said. “At the same time, the changes in social and political response to children’s and YA literature led to an increase in book challenges and, in some states, potential financial and legal consequences to individuals and library systems for being associated with ALA.” All those factors impacted membership and resulted in “additional budgetary constraints from a decrease in membership dues.”

Further, an estimated 30% of the members belong to both ALSC and YALSA, and some division committees—such as intellectual freedom—apply to children’s and teen librarians. By fusing the two divisions, ALSC can rethink member dues, unify committees, and streamline operations. Bittner believes that having a single division will mean “improved financial viability” and help staff “focus on unified goals and initiatives, and creating more efficient workflows.”

He emphasized the importance of “working with YALSA to identify core objectives and work that can continue to focus on teen services within the unified division.”

Garcia concurred that an emphasis on teen services is necessary. She also feels that “our membership base needs a lot of help with advocacy,” not only in terms of “hot spots” like book challenges, but “the need to shore up fiscal dollars at the community level. We are doing advocacy work as far as taking care of library staff, making sure they have adequate salaries. It’s been a stressful couple of years.”

With the reunification of ALSC and YALSA, Garcia said, “We’re going to be able to go back to the basics and serve our members better, with greater institutional support.” She foresees “a challenging couple of years for us, but when the dust settles we’ll be stronger for it.”

Garcia thought about the year ahead for YALSA and ALSC. "It’s almost like getting a new roommate," she suggested. "It’s a little clunky at first, but then you come together with shared ideas."