The American Library Association announced July 30 that the Independent Book Publishers Association is now an ALA affiliate. During the 2025 Annual Conference, the ALA Council voted to approve IBPA’s application to join the ALA’s organizational network. IBPA is the first publishing association among the ALA’s 28 affiliate organizations.
Sam Helmick, 2025–2026 ALA president, said ALA affiliation builds community, shows solidarity across the industry, and develops strength in numbers across the book industry and library profession. "We have shared values and a common ground,” Helmick said, and having IBPA at the table means “directly connecting our patron base with publishing resources.”
“In libraries, we like our 31 flavors, whether that’s physical books, audiobooks, e-books,” or other formats, Helmick added. IBPA, whose 3,500 members include traditional and hybrid independent publishers, university and nonprofit presses, and author-publishers, “complements the mission of ALA,” per Helmick.
IBPA CEO Andrea Fleck-Nisbet said coalition-building with the ALA is important because “we’re thinking long-term about strategic partnerships. Libraries are critical” for helping independent publishers and authors reach their audiences. “Overwhelmingly, we’re on the side of libraries, and we’re pleased with this new relationship we’re going to have with the ALA.”
The ALA and IBPA’s alliance also brings library professionals and publishers together for discussions of First Amendment and policy matters, e-book licensing and sales, and accessibility. Fleck-Nisbet of IBPA observed, for instance, that “e-book regulation has been negative for some of our members in terms of them generating revenue,” and “there’s so little money to go around for libraries, retailers, publishers” in the current economy.
“That story is still being written,” agreed Helmick. “What should DRM and copyright and the digital rights of our patrons look like? Those are conversations we still need to have in a stronger, more comprehensive, form, and maybe there are models we haven’t explored yet” for collection development and lending. They expressed excitement at having IBPA on board, both to amplify indie publishers' content and to “remind people [in publishing] how integral libraries are to our way of life. That can sometimes get lost in the consumer space.”
