List of presidents of the American Library Association

The American Library Association, founded in 1876 and chartered in 1879, is the largest professional organization for librarians in the United States. The headquarters of the American Library Association is in Chicago, Illinois.

Table of ALA presidents[]

Image	Name	Term	Other ALA posts	Other accomplishments
	Justin Winsor	1876–1885	Also served as president July–Oct. 1897.	President of the American Historical Association, 1887.
	William Frederick Poole	1885–1887		President of the American Historical Association, 1888.
	Charles Ammi Cutter	1887–1889		Developed the Cutter Expansive Classification system which became the basis for the top categories of the Library of Congress Classification.
	Frederick Morgan Crunden	1889–1890		First president of the Missouri State Library Association.
	Melvil Dewey	1890 – July 1891	Also served as president 1892–1893; Served as treasurer, 1876–1877 and 1880–1881; Served as secretary 1879–1890 and 1897–1898.	Developer of the Dewey Decimal System.
	Samuel Swett Green	July–Nov. 1891
	Klas August Linderfelt	October 16, 1891 – May 22, 1892	Councilor 1883–1891, vice president 1890–1891. Resigned following his arrest for embezzling from the Milwaukee Public Library and the executive board voted Fletcher the new president, retroactive to the beginning of the term. To this day, Linderfelt is absent from official ALA lists of its past presidents.[1][2]	First librarian of the Milwaukee Public Library, 1880–1892
	William Isaac Fletcher	May 22, 1892 – 1892	Editor of ALA Index to General Literature.
–	Melvil Dewey	1892–1893	See above.
	Josephus Nelson Larned	1893–1894
	Henry Munson Utley	1894–1895
	John Cotton Dana	1895–1896		Founder of the Newark Museum, 1909.
	William Howard Brett	1896–1897		Developed the library school program at Western Reserve University. Dean, 1903.
–	Justin Winsor	July–Oct. 1897	See above.
	Rutherford P. Hayes	Oct. 1897-Jan. 1898	Vice-president Hayes (son of US President Rutherford B. Hayes) assumed the office of Acting President upon the death of Winsor without election by the executive board, despite the fact that it was unclear whether or not the ALA constitution allowed this. Putnam was elected president following a special election.[3]
	Herbert Putnam	Jan.–Aug. 1898	Also served as president 1903–1904.	Librarian of Congress, 1899–1939.
	William Coolidge Lane	1898–1899	Served as ALA secretary and treasurer for fourteen years and as chairman of its publishing board.
	Reuben Gold Thwaites	1899–1900		President of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, 1910.
	Henry James Carr	1900–1901	Also served as treasurer, 1886–1893; Served as secretary 1898–1900.
	John Shaw Billings	1901–1902		First director of the New York Public Library.
	James Kendall Hosmer	1902–1903
–	Herbert Putnam	1903–1904	See above.
	Ernest Cushing Richardson	1904–1905
	Frank Pierce Hill	1905–1906	Also served as secretary 1891–1895.	First director of the Newark Public Library, 1889.
	Clement Walker Andrews	1906–1907		President of the American Library Institute from 1922 to 1924.
	Arthur Elmore Bostwick	1907–1908
	Charles Henry Gould	1908–1909		First university librarian at McGill University, 1892.
	Nathaniel Dana Carlile Hodges	1909–1910		Named to notable Ohio Librarians Hall of Fame, 1980.
	James Ingersoll Wyer	1910–1911	Also served as secretary, 1902–1909. From 1916 to 1920, chaired Library War Service Committee.
	Theresa West Elmendorf	1911–1912	She was the ALA's first female president.
	Henry Eduard Legler	1912–1913
	Edwin Hatfield Anderson	1913–1914	Also served as treasurer, 1895–1896
	Hiller Crowell Wellman	1914–1915
	Mary Wright Plummer	1915–1916		Member of the first class taught by Melvil Dewey at the School of Library Economy, 1887.
	Walter Lewis Brown	1916–1917	Created the ALA War Service Committee, 1917.
	Thomas Lynch Montgomery	1917–1918		Founded the Pennsylvania Library Club, 1890. Established the first branch of the Philadelphia Free Library, 1892.
	William Warner Bishop	1918–1919
	Chalmers Hadley	1919–1920	Also served as secretary, 1909–1911.
	Alice S. Tyler	1920–1921
	Azariah Smith Root	1921–1922	Founding member of the ALA College Library Section, 1899.	Founding member of the Bibliographical Society of America.
	George Burwell Utley	1922–1923	Also served as secretary, 1911–1920.	First director of the first tax supported public library in the state of Florida, Jacksonville Public Library, 1905.
	Judson Toll Jennings	1923–1924
	Herman H. B. Meyer	1924–1925		Initiated the Library of Congress services for the blind.
	Charles F. D. Belden	1925–1926
	George H. Locke	1926–1927
	Carl B. Roden	1927–1928	Also served as treasurer, 1910–1920.
	Linda A. Eastman	1928–1929		Founding member and later president of the Ohio Library Association.
	Andrew Keogh	1929–1930
	Adam Strohm	1930–1931
	Josephine Adams Rathbone	1931–1932
	Harry Miller Lydenberg	1932–1933
	Gratia A. Countryman	1933–1934
	Charles H. Compton	1934–1935
	Louis Round Wilson	1935–1936
	Malcolm Glenn Wyer	1936–1937
	Harrison Warwick Craver	1937–1938
	Milton James Ferguson	1938–1939
	Ralph Munn	1939–1940
	Essae Martha Culver	1940–1941
	Charles Harvey Brown	1941–1942
	Keyes D. Metcalf	1942–1943
	Althea H. Warren	1943–1944
	Carl Vitz	1944–1945
	Ralph A. Ulveling	1945–1946
	Mary U. Rothrock	1946–1947
	Paul North Rice	1947–1948
	Errett Weir McDiarmid	1948–1949
	Milton E. Lord	1949–1950
	Clarence R. Graham	1950–1951
	Loleta Dawson Fyan	1951–1952
	Robert Bingham Downs	1952–1953
	Flora Belle Ludington	1953–1954
	L. Quincy Mumford	1954–1955		Librarian of Congress, 1954–1974.
	John S. Richards	1955–1956
	Ralph R. Shaw	1956–1957
	Lucile M. Morsch	1957–1958
	Emerson Greenaway	1958–1959
	Benjamin E. Powell	1959–1960
	Frances Lander Spain	1960–1961
	Florrinell F. Morton	1961–1962
	James E. Bryan	1962–1963
	Frederick H. Wagman	1963–1964
	Edwin Castagna	1964–1965
	Robert Vosper	1965–1966
	Mary V. Gaver	1966–1967
	Foster E. Mohrhardt	1967–1968
	Roger McDonough	1968–1969
	William S. Dix	1969–1970
	Lillian M. Bradshaw	1970–1971
	Keith Doms	1971–1972
	Katherine Laich	1972–1973
	Jean E. Lowrie	1973–1974
	Edward G. Holley	1974–1975
	Allie Beth Martin	1975–Apr. 1976
	Clara Stanton Jones	1976–1977	She was the ALA's first African-American president, serving as its acting president from April 11 to July 22 in 1976 and then its president from July 22, 1976, to 1977.[4]
	Eric Moon	1977–1978
	Russell Shank	1978–1979
	Thomas J. Galvin	1979–1980
	Peggy A. Sullivan	1980–1981
	Elizabeth W. (Betty) Stone	1981–1982
	Carol A. Nemeyer	1982–1983
	Brooke E. Sheldon	1983–1984
	E. J. Josey	1984–1985
	Beverly P. Lynch	1985–1986
	Regina Minudri	1986–1987
	Margaret E. Chisholm	1987–1988
	F. William Summers	1988–1989
	Patricia Wilson Berger	1989–1990
	Richard M. Dougherty	1990–1991
	Patricia G. Schuman	1991–1992	Also served as treasurer, 1984–1988.	founder and President Neal-Schuman Publishers, 1973–2012
	Marilyn L. Miller	1992–1993
	Hardy R. Franklin	1993–1994
	Arthur Curley	1994–1995
	Betty J. Turock	1995–1996
	Mary R. Somerville	1996–1997
	Barbara J. Ford	1997–1998
	Ann K. Symons	1998–1999	Also served as treasurer, 1992–1996.
	Sarah Ann Long	1999–2000
	Nancy C. Kranich	2000–2001
	John W. Berry	2001–2002
	Maurice J. (Mitch) Freedman	2002–2003
	Carla D. Hayden	2003–2004		Librarian of Congress (2016–Present)
	Carol A. Brey-Casiano	2004–2005
	Michael Gorman	2005–2006
	Leslie Burger	2006–2007
	Loriene Roy	2007–2008	She was the ALA's first Native American president.[5][6]
	James R. Rettig	2008–2009
	Camila A. Alire	2009–2010	She was the ALA's first Hispanic/Latina American president.
	Roberta A. Stevens	2010–2011
	Molly Raphael	2011–2012
	Maureen Sullivan	2012–2013
	Barbara Stripling	2013–2014
	Courtney Young	2014–2015
	Sari Feldman	2015–2016
	Julie Todaro	2016–2017
	James G. Neal [7]	2017–2018
	Loida Garcia-Febo	2018–2019
	Wanda Kay Brown	2019–2020
	Julius C. Jefferson Jr.	2020–2021
	Patricia "Patty" Wong	2021–present	She is the ALA's first Asian American president
	Lessa Kananiʻopua Pelayo-Lozada (President-Elect)	2022–2023	She is the ALA's first Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander American president

References[]

External links[]

• Ala.org Handbook
• ALA's Past Presidents