Today in 1876, during the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, 103 librarians, 90 men and 13 women, responded to a call for a “Convention of Librarians” to be held October 4-6 at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. At the end of the meeting, according to Ed Holley in his essay ALA at 100, “the register was passed around for all to sign who wished to become charter members,” making October 6, 1876 to be the American Library Association’s birthday. Today it has about 63,000 members.