John Cotton Dana

“ Every person actively engaged in library work owes it to herself, as well as to her profession, to join the American Library Association. If the association is large, if its meetings are well attended, if its proceedings as published show that the problems of library work are carefully studied, if the published proceedings are widely circulated, it is easier to persuade the intelligent part of the public that the librarian's profession is serious, dignified, and calls to its membership men and women of ability and zeal. ”

“ To be a zealous and active member of the A. L. A. is to attend to an important part of one's business; for one can't join it and work with it and for it and not increase one's efficiency in many ways. ”

“ If the public is persuaded of these things, the position of the humblest as well as of the highest in the profession is thereby rendered better worth the holding. To attend diligently to one's business is sometimes a most proper form of advertising one's merits. ”