The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) elected its 2023 Board of Directors on October 18 during the Fall 2022 Association Meeting. On January 1, 2023, Susan Parker, university librarian at The University of British Columbia, will begin a one-year term as president of ARL. The president serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors, along with the vice president/president-elect, past president, and treasurer.
“I am honored that my colleagues have placed their trust in me to lead our Association as the 62nd president of ARL,” said ARL Vice President/President-Elect Susan Parker. “I look forward to continuing my work with the Board, members, and other partners to advance our goals, especially our commitments to diversify our profession and its leadership, and to advocate for policies and practices that support expanding equitable access to information.”
Parker will succeed K. Matthew Dames, the Edward H. Arnold Dean, Hesburgh Libraries and University of Notre Dame Press at the University of Notre Dame, as ARL president. Dames will continue to serve as a member of both the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee as past president through December 31, 2023.
During the Fall Meeting, the Association’s membership ratified the Board’s election of Trevor A. Dawes as ARL vice president/president-elect for 2023. Dawes, vice provost for libraries and museums and May Morris University Librarian at the University of Delaware, will become ARL president on January 1, 2024.
Four new Board members were elected by the membership: Rhea Ballard-Thrower (2023–2025), university librarian and dean of libraries, the University of Illinois Chicago; Tamar Evangelestia-Dougherty (2023–2025), director, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives; Sara Lowman (2023–2024), vice provost and university librarian, Rice University; and Joseph Salem (2023–2025), the Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs, Duke University.
Continuing elected members of the Board are: Melissa Just (2021–2024), dean, University Library, University of Saskatchewan; Robert McDonald (2020–2023), dean of University Libraries and senior vice provost of Online Education, University of Colorado Boulder; Lisa O’Hara (2021–2024), vice-provost (Libraries) and university librarian, University of Manitoba; and Lorelei Tanji (2021–2024), university librarian, University of California, Irvine.
Also continuing to serve on the Board and Executive Committee are Bob Fox (2018–2024), dean of University Libraries, University of Louisville, and ARL treasurer, and Mary Lee Kennedy (2018– ), ARL executive director, who serves in an ex officio, non-voting capacity.
The Board of Directors is the governing body of the Association and represents the interests of ARL member libraries in directing the business of the Association, including establishing operating policies, budgets, and fiscal oversight; modifying the ARL mission and objectives; and representing the Association to the community.
About the Association of Research Libraries
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of research libraries in Canada and the US whose vision is to create a trusted, equitable, and inclusive research and learning ecosystem and prepare library leaders to advance this work in strategic partnership with member libraries and other organizations worldwide. ARL’s mission is to empower and advocate for research libraries and archives to shape, influence, and implement institutional, national, and international policy. ARL develops the next generation of leaders and enables strategic cooperation among partner institutions to benefit scholarship and society. ARL is on the web at ARL.org.
