"[5] APALA was the successor to the Asian American Librarians Caucus (AALC), a discussion group within the ALA Office for Library Outreach Services.

[6][5] That discussion group was founded at the 1975 ALA Annual Conference, by Janet M. Suzuki, Henry Chang, and Yen-Tsai Feng.

[6][5][10][11] The founders of APALA included Lourdes Collantes, Suzine Har Nicolescu, Sharad Karkhanis, Conchita Pineda, Henry Chang, Betty Tsai, and Tamiye Trejo Meehan.

[12] Asian Pacific Americans comprise one of the four ethnic/racial groups that is underrepresented in the library profession as compared to the U.S. population as a whole.

[12] As of 1997, APALA had approximately 300 members, of whom 40% were Chinese, 16% were Korean, 14% were East Indian, 10% were Filipino, and the remaining 20% belonged to 13 additional ethnic groups.