HomeHonorary Membership

Purpose:

Honorary membership may be conferred on a living citizen of any country whose contribution to librarianship or a closely related field is so outstanding that it is of lasting importance to the advancement of the whole field of library service. It is intended to reflect honor upon the ALA as well as upon the individual.

Criteria for selection:

To be eligible for honorary membership, a person should be so outstanding that there can be no question about his/her suitability.

1. The designation should recognize the contribution of an individual per se, rather than that of an individual representing the accomplishments of many.
2. The person elected to honorary membership should be of such caliber as to reflect honor upon ALA by this designation.
3. Honorary membership should be conferred because of a contribution of more than passing interest and of more than local or regional achievement. The contribution may be to librarianship or to a closely related field.
4. The recipient may be a librarian or a person in a related field.

Criteria were developed by the ALA Executive Board Committee on Honorary Members, Special Nominations and Assignments (Kathleen Molz, Norman Horrocks, and Eric Moon, Chair) and approved by the ALA Executive Board, June, 1979.

Honorary Member Benefits:

• ALA membership dues waived for life
• Complimentary conference registration for all ALA Midwinter Meetings and Annual Conferences for life
• Special invitations to conference events
• Life membership in all ALA divisions (as desired)
• Complimentary copies of all ALA division journals (as desired)
• Listing in the special Honorary Member section of the ALA Handbook of Organization web listing
• Listing on the ALA VIP list to receive complimentary registration and preferential housing assignments at all future ALA Midwinter Meetings and Annual Conferences.

Nominations procedure:

Any ALA member (except current members of the ALA Executive Board) may nominate an individual for Honorary Membership. The nominee need not be a member of ALA.

To nominate an individual to Honorary Membership, complete the ALA Honorary Member Nomination Form.  The completed form and all attachments must be received by September 1. Late nominations will not be considered.

Posthumous nominations are not eligible for consideration.

Submit nomination packets to:

Honorary Membership
c/o JoAnne Kempf
Director, Office of ALA Governance
and Eileen Hardy
Executive Board Secretariat
American Library Association
50 East Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60611

Timeline:

Procedure for announcing and electing ALA Honorary Members

For a listing of past Honorary Members, click here.

 Back to the Main Awards Page

Related Files

Honorary Member Nomination Form