James G. (Jim) Neal honored for his service with the 2015 Joseph W. Lippincott award

CHICAGO — The American Library Association (ALA) is pleased to announce that Jim Neal has been selected as the recipient of the 2015 Joseph W. Lippincott award.  The award, donated by Joseph W. Lippincott III was established to recognize “distinguished service to the profession of librarianship.”

Jim Neal is university librarian emeritus at Columbia University, serving during 2001-2014 as vice president for information services and university librarian.  Previously, he served as the dean of university libraries at Indiana University and Johns Hopkins University and held administrative positions in the libraries at Penn State, Notre Dame and the City University of New York.  

Neal is a member of the OCLC Board of Trustees. He serves on the Council and Executive Board of the American Library Association, and recently completed a three-year term as ALA Treasurer. He has served on the board and as president of the Association of Research Libraries, on the board and as chair of the Research Libraries Group (RLG), on the board and as chair of the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) and on the board of the Digital Preservation Network.  He is on the board of the Freedom to Read Foundation and the board of the Metropolitan New York Library Council. He has also participated on numerous international, national and state professional committees and is an active member of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA).He is past president of the Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA).   He will chair the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) 2017 National Conference in Baltimore. 

Neal is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences, consultant and published author, with focuses in the areas of scholarly communication, intellectual property, digital library programs, and library cooperation. He has served on the Scholarly Communication committees of ARL and ACRL and as chair of the Steering Committee of SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition.  He has represented the American library community in testimony on copyright matters before Congressional committees.  As a presenter, Neal has gained recognition as an exceptional speaker and is highly respected by the many colleagues he has mentored throughout the years.

Among his previous honors, he was selected the 1997 Academic Librarian of the Year by the Association of College and Research Libraries and was the 2007 recipient of ALA’s Hugh Atkinson Memorial Award and the 2009 ALA Melvil Dewey Medal Award. And in 2010, he received the honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Alberta.

Lippincott jury members concurred that Neal has been a valuable asset to the profession and has made such an enormous, sustained and positive contribution to the field.   

Members of the 2015 Lippincott Jury were Angela A. Williams, Chair; Dr. Jennifer F. Paustenbaugh, Brigham Young University; Elizabeth M. Williams Appalachian State University; Dr. Susan E. Anderson, Illinois Wesleyan University; and John Sandstrom, New Mexico State University.

The Joseph W. Lippincott Award will be presented to Jim Neal at the ALA Award Ceremony and Reception on June 28, during the Annual Conference in San Francisco.

The deadline for submission of applications for the 2016 Joseph W. Lippincott Award is Dec. 1, 2015.  Guidelines and application forms are available on the ALA web site.