On this date 125 years ago a group of individuals gathered in the office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (located in Wisconsin’s second Capitol, shown above) for the purpose of establishing a state library association. At that meeting, a constitution was adopted and officers were elected. The officers included K. A. Linderfelt, president; R. G. Thwaites, vice-president; and F. A. Hutchins, secretary-treasurer. By this action the Wisconsin Library Association became the sixth state library association created in the nation. The 125 years of library leadership and support by the association has had a positive impact on all types of Wisconsin libraries and on the library service delivered by those libraries to the people of Wisconsin. As Wisconsin libraries look to the future, it is also a time to acknowledge the tremendous library growth and development that has occurred in the last 125 years. Through good times and hard times Wisconsin libraries have persevered in meeting the information and knowledge needs of the state’s residents, and they will continue to do so long into the future. That’s something to celebrate, and WLA along with Wisconsin libraries will be doing this throughout 2016.