Mountain Plains Library Association

What Mountain Plains Library Association does

Mountain Plains Library Association (MPLA) is a regional nonprofit professional association founded in 1978 and headquartered in Hyrum, Utah, serving librarians, library paraprofessionals, library science students, library trustees, and friends-of-library groups across twelve U.S. states (Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming). The organization promotes professional development, cross-state networking, leadership training, and advocacy through a portfolio of programs including a tiered membership program, the biennial Leadership Institute held at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, annual joint conferences with state library associations, a regional Jobline job board, webinars, professional development grants, advocacy case studies, and a bimonthly newsletter. Membership is structured by individual salary tier ($40-$65 annually), institutional budget ($70-$750 with bundled personal memberships), retiree/student/trustee ($15), author ($90), and state library association ($100) categories, with a sustained half-price first-year individual discount used as a member acquisition lever.

MPLA operates with a small paid staff led by an Executive Secretary and is governed by elected officers, an executive board, committees, and state representatives from each member state. Its technology backbone is the Naylor Association Management Software platform, which handles membership management, newsletter delivery, the member directory, event registration, and the Annual Report and Membership Directory; no proprietary technology or AI capabilities are developed in-house. The association's revenue is overwhelmingly recurring membership dues supplemented by minor Jobline listing fees, conference revenue, and limited grants. Strategic partnerships include EBSCO (founding implementation funder of the Leadership Institute), the University of Northern Colorado (digital archive host), Ghost Ranch (Leadership Institute venue), and the twelve member state library associations that co-select Leadership Institute cohorts and co-host conferences.

The association's competitive position rests on its exclusive regional scope, a 178+ member Leadership Institute alumni network built since 2002, and embedded state-association liaisons that no single-state organization can replicate. Its 2025 award slate included regional recognition of librarian Louise Erdrich, signaling continued investment in reputational programming. Overall, MPLA functions as a stable, mission-driven membership association rather than a high-growth commercial enterprise, with expansion signals primarily tied to membership acquisition rather than geographic or vertical expansion.

Name

Mountain Plains Library Association

Legal name

Mountain Plains Library Association

Website

https://mpla.us

Company type

Private

Founded year

1978

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Mountain Plains Library Association is a 12-state regional nonprofit association founded in 1978, serving librarians, library paraprofessionals, students, and library supporters through tiered memberships, a biennial Leadership Institute, joint conferences, and professional development programming across the Mountain West and Great Plains.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Library Professional Association Services

NAICS

Professional Organizations (81392)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Libraries, Archives & Special Collections (BPAGAHAF)

Keywords

• Library professional development
• Regional library association
• Membership association services
• Library continuing education
• Library leadership training

Headquarters

HQ city

Hyrum

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: MPLA generates revenue primarily through annual membership dues structured by membership type (individual based on salary, institutional based on library budget, student/retiree at flat rate, author membership, and state library association membership). Individual membership offers first-year half-price discount to attract new members.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Mountain Plains Library Association (MPLA) is a 12-state regional nonprofit library association that promotes the development of librarians and libraries across Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. Its core offerings include a tiered membership program (individual, institutional, author, state library association), the biennial Leadership Institute at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, the Jobline regional job board, webinars/training, joint annual conferences with state associations, an awards program, professional development grants, the MPLA Newsletter, and advocacy case studies.

Product overview

Mountain Plains Library Association is a twelve-state regional library association offering a comprehensive suite of programs and services for librarians, library paraprofessionals, and library supporters. The core offerings include a tiered Membership Program (individual, institutional, author, and state library association memberships), the biennial Leadership Institute (a five-day intensive at Ghost Ranch, NM for developing library leaders), the Jobline (regional job board), Webinars/Training (online professional development), annual MPLA Conferences (joint events with state associations), an Awards Program (recognizing excellence across six categories), Professional Development Grants (funding for courses and programs), the MPLA Newsletter (bimonthly publication), and Advocacy resources including case studies. The association connects libraries across Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Membership Program Tiered membership program with individual membership ($40-$65 annually based on salary, first-year half-price), institutional membership ($70-$750 annually based on library budget with 1-6 complimentary personal memberships), Author Membership ($90 annually), State Library Association Membership ($100 annually), and retiree/student/trustee membership ($15). Open to individual library professionals, library institutions, state library associations, and library supporters across 12 states.
• Leadership Institute A biennial five-day intensive leadership development program held at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, designed to develop essential leadership skills in library professionals through hands-on projects, expert facilitators, mentors, and collaboration with peers across the MPLA region. Covers leadership styles, interpersonal communication, risk-taking, and change management. Up to 24 applicants are selected per cohort; graduates receive complimentary one-year MPLA membership.
• Jobline

Quantifiable outcome

• 178 leadership candidates and 32 mentors trained since 2002
• +2 more outcomes

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Naylor Association Management SoftwarecoreTechnology or IntegrationNaylor provides the membership management platform for MPLA, including the member directory, newsletter delivery, event registration, and Annual Report and Membership Directory. The association transitioned to the Naylor platform during recent infrastructure updates.
• Ghost Ranch, New MexicocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGhost Ranch in New Mexico is the venue for MPLA's Leadership Institute. The remote desert location was selected from 35 nominated sites and is credited as creating exceptional bonding among participants. Georgia O'Keeffe memorialized the cliffs in her art, adding distinctive character to the location. Ghost Ranch was recognized with the Carl Gaumer Library Champion Award in 2007.
• University of Northern ColoradocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe University of Northern Colorado houses MPLA archives in their Digital Commons repository, storing Executive Board Archives, State Representative Archives, Officer Archives, Staff Archives, and Committee Archives. This partnership preserves MPLA's historical records and makes them accessible digitally.
• State Library Associations (12 states)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMPLA partners with library associations in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming for joint conferences, Leadership Institute participant selection, and regional advocacy coordination. State associations select Leadership Institute applicants and fund participant attendance.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Southwestern Library Association: A regional library association serving southwestern U.S. states with comparable membership and professional development offerings. Directly comparable as a peer regional library association providing parallel services to librarians across multiple states.
• Southeastern Library Association: A multi-state regional library association serving the southeastern United States with membership dues, joint conferences, and awards programs. Directly comparable as a peer regional library association with similar mission and structural format covering a multi-state geography.
• New England Library Association: A multi-state regional library association serving the New England states. Comparable to MPLA as a regional library association with similar membership-driven structure, conferences, and professional development programming across a defined multi-state geography.
• Pacific Northwest Library Association: A regional library association serving the Pacific Northwest with a similar multi-state membership model and professional development focus. Directly comparable as a sister regional library association covering multiple U.S. states with parallel offerings including conferences, awards, and networking.

Broad incumbents

• Special Libraries Association: An international professional association serving special librarians and information professionals. Comparable as a membership-based library professional association offering continuing education, networking, and advocacy, though focused on special/corporate librarians rather than MPLA's broader public/academic/school library base.
• Association of College and Research Libraries: A division of the American Library Association serving academic and research librarians. Comparable to MPLA as a library professional association offering conferences, professional development, and advocacy, though narrower in scope to academic/research librarians within a national framework.
• American Library Association: The national professional association for librarians in the United States. Directly comparable as a membership-based library professional association offering similar programs (conferences, awards, continuing education, advocacy), but operating at a much larger national scale rather than MPLA's regional 12-state focus.

Regional players

• Utah Library Association: A state-level library association in Utah that collaborates with MPLA on joint conferences and Leadership Institute applicant selection. Comparable as a library professional membership organization serving librarians in the same geographic region, though at a single-state scope rather than MPLA's multi-state regional focus.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/MountainPlainsLibraryAssociation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mountain-plains-library-association-mpla

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Mountain Plains Library Association