The Special Libraries Association (SLA) was formally organized, complete with its Constitution, on July 2, 1909. John Cotton Dana was the first president of SLA. The first conference of the new association was held in New York City on November 5, 1909, with approximately 40 members participating. In 1910, the Serial Publications program was established to provide a vehicle to communicate Association news, professional opportunities, and information affecting the profession, and to serve as a forum for the exchange of research and information impacting the profession. Its journal, Special Libraries, began as an eight-page pamphlet in January 1910, with Anna B. Sears acting as editor. The April 1910 issue of Special Libraries contained the first directory of special libraries, devoted to 23 subject fields. Badly needed book lists and bibliographies were featured from the beginning.

In 1916, editor Dr. John A. Lapp effectively defined "the basic purpose of the special library, namely to put knowledge to work." This gave the Association its motto-Putting Knowledge to Work. The Serial Publications program has considerably expanded since its 1910 inception. Special Libraries was published monthly from 1910 to 1980, when it became the Association's quarterly scholarly journal. Publication of the SpeciaList monthly newsletter, detailing Association and member news, also began in 1980.

The groundwork for SLA's present structure of Divisions representing different subject fields or special types of organizations was laid at the Association's first New York meeting. At that time, committees were set up to consider the problems of agricultural libraries, commercial associations, insurance libraries, legislative and municipal reference libraries, membership libraries, public utility libraries, and sociological and technical libraries. These original committees were gradually formalized first into Groups and later into Divisions. The Divisions are important and unique because they demonstrate the integration of the library function into a subject field, into the operation of an organization, or in a new technology. (All of the above information was taken from the SLA homepage http://www.sla.org/association/ historical-highlights.html)