Alpha Beta Alpha

Alpha Beta Alpha is an American honorary library fraternity that is dedicated to serving college and university library science majors at the undergraduate level, although membership privileges have been expanded in recent years to allow all undergraduate students who support their goals. The fraternity has two active chapters, after the reinstatement of its Alpha chapter at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana in 2018. Rho chapter, which for many years was the only active chapter, is situated at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.

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History

Alpha Beta Alpha was founded at Northwestern State College, now known as Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana on. It was the first co-educational undergraduate library science fraternity to be established.
The idea of such an organization was first discussed at a banquet hosted by Eugene P. Watson at Northwestern State College on. The event was attended by some forty library science students and librarians, along with Nora Buest of the U.S. Office of Education; Sue Hefley, Louisiana State Supervisor of School Libraries; and Mary Harris, Assistant State Librarian. Attendees spoke of the need for a nationwide professional development organization for library science students.
The following year, on, the Northwestern State College Library Club was founded. Finally, on, the members of the Scharlie E. Russel Library Club founded Alpha Beta Alpha, the first co-educational library science fraternity in the United States. The purpose of ABA is to support interest in librarianship, to maintain a sense of respnsitiby for the profession, and to deveope a sympathy and understanding for the problems and work of people.
The charter members of Alpha Beta Alpha were:
Alpha Beta Alpha held its first national convention at Northwestern State College on March 15 and 16, 1952. Nearly fifty chapters were chartered at colleges across the United States.
The Alpha chapter is one of two active chapters of Alpha Beta Alpha and is located at Northwestern State University of Louisiana. This group hosts biweekly meetings to discuss and plan upcoming events, brainstorm service and informational events, nominate members of the week, and collaborate with Eugene P. Watson Memorial Library and other registered student organizations that promote reading & literacy. Past events have featured advocating against banning books & censorship, preserving oral histories and traditions centered around Louisiana culture, fun educational trivia, presentation of statistics, and speakers in fields that deal closely with books.
The Rho chapter is the second active chapter of Alpha Beta Alpha and is located at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. The group holds weekly meetings where they plan and organize various service events on and off campus, discuss current events in the library science field, and bring in library and academic professionals to talk about library-related topics, and job opportunities around the United States. Recently, the organization has offered more social activities and events than just purely academic pursuits. Alpha Beta Alpha on the campus holds an annual banquet where they discuss the year's events as well as honoring special guests and graduating seniors.
Enrollment for chapters used to be strictly restricted to Library Science undergraduate majors but both of the current chapters have since opened up enrollment to all undergraduate students who are interested in reading and literary freedom

Symbols

The Alpha Beta Alpha badge is in the shape of a closed book, behind which a quill pen is placed vertically; diagonally across the book are the letters Α, Β and Α. The pledge button is shaped like a shield and crossed by a diagonal line. The blazon of the official coat of arms is as follows:

Arms: purpure, on a bend argent, three Greek letters ΑΒΑ, of the first between; in chief, a white rose-leaved vert; and in base, the reproduction of the ΑΒΑ key.
Crest: on a wreath of the colors, a candle holder argent holding a candle purpure, flamed and resplendent, or .
The motto is Books, People, Service, Life.
The fraternity colors are purple and white.
The official flower is a white rose.
The official seal is round with a reproduction of the badge in the center, the fraternity's name, and the date encircling the badge.

Chapters

Following are the 37 chapters of Alpha Beta Alpha, with. active chapters noted in bold and inactive chapters in italics.

Chapter	Charter date and range	Institution	Location	Status
Alpha	– 20xx ?; 2018–present	Northwestern State University	Natchitoches, Louisiana	Active
Beta		Mississippi University for Women	Columbus, Mississippi	Inactive
Gamma		Indiana State University	Terre Haute, Indiana	Inactive
Delta		University of Alabama	Tuscaloosa, Alabama	Inactive
Epsilon		Murray State University	Murray, Kentucky	Inactive
Zeta		Concord University	Athens, West Virginia	Inactive
Eta		Texas Woman's University	Denton, Texas	Inactive
Theta	– 1970	Arizona State University	Tempe, Arizona	Inactive
Iota	1953–1968	San Jose State University	San Jose, California	Inactive
Kappa	– 1972	Millersville University of Pennsylvania	Millersville, Pennsylvania	Inactive
Lambda		Louisiana State University	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	Inactive
Mu		Illinois State University	Normal, Illinois	Inactive
Nu	– 1975	Marshall University	Huntington, West Virginia	Inactive
Xi	– 1971	University of Northern Iowa	Cedar Falls, Iowa	Inactive
Omicron		Florida A&M University	Tallahassee, Florida	Inactive
Pi	– 1967	Our Lady of the Lake University	San Antonio, Texas	Inactive
Rho		Kutztown University of Pennsylvania	Kutztown, Pennsylvania	Active
Sigma	– 1971	Western Michigan University	Kalamazoo, Michigan	Inactive
Tau	1958–May 1964	Northern Illinois University	DeKalb, Illinois	Inactive
Upsilon		Shepherd University	Shepherdstown, West Virginia	Inactive
Phi	– 1970	Central Michigan University	Mount Pleasant, Michigan	Inactive
Chi	– 1973	University of North Texas	Denton, Texas	Inactive
Psi		Southeast Missouri State University	Cape Girardeau, Missouri	Inactive
Omega	– 1968	University of Tennessee	Knoxville, Tennessee	Inactive
Alpha Alpha		James Madison University	Harrisonburg, Virginia	Inactive
Alpha Beta		Nicholls State University	Thibodaux, Louisiana	Inactive
Alpha Gamma		Morehead State University	Morehead, Kentucky	Inactive
Alpha Delta		Oklahoma State University–Stillwater	Stillwater, Oklahoma	Inactive
Alpha Epsilon		University of North Alabama	Florence, Alabama	Inactive
Alpha Zeta		Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania	Shippensburg, Pennsylvania	Inactive
Alpha Eta		East Carolina University	Greenville, North Carolina	Inactive
Alpha Theta	1966	Louisiana Tech University	Ruston, Louisiana	Inactive
Alpha Iota	1968	Rowan University	Glassboro, New Jersey	Inactive
Alpha Kappa	1968	University of Central Oklahoma	Edmond, Oklahoma	Inactive
Alpha Lambda	1969	Edinboro University of Pennsylvania	Edinboro, Pennsylvania	Inactive
Alpha Mu	1969	Northwest Missouri State University	Maryville, Missouri	Inactive
Alpha Nu	1969	Radford University	Radford, Virginia	Inactive
Alpha Xi	1969	Eastern Illinois University	Charleston, Illinois	Inactive
Alpha Omicron	1969	West Virginia Wesleyan College	Buckhannon, West Virginia	Inactive
Alpha Pi	1970	Mansfield University of Pennsylvania	Mansfield, Pennsylvania	Inactive
Alpha Rho	1970	Austin Peay State University	Clarksville, Tennessee	Inactive
Alpha Sigma	1970	Sam Houston State University	Huntsville, Texas	Inactive
Alpha Tau	1970	Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania	Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania	Inactive
Alpha Upsilon	1970	University of Central Arkansas	Conway, Arkansas	Inactive
Alpha Phi	1970	Jackson State University	Jackson, Mississippi	Inactive
Alpha Chi	1972	University of Wisconsin–Whitewater	Whitewater, Wisconsin	Inactive
Alpha Psi	1972	Western Illinois University	Macomb, Illinois	Inactive
Alpha Omega		South Carolina State University	Orangeburg, South Carolina	Inactive