Yasmeen Shorish elected ACRL vice-president/president-elect

CHICAGO - Yasmeen Shorish, Associate Dean for Research & Scholarly Communications at James Madison University, has been elected ACRL Vice-President/President-Elect. Shorish will become President-Elect in July 2026 and assume the presidency in July 2027 for a one-year term.

Eric Edwards, Interlibrary Loan Librarian at Illinois State Library, has been elected to the ACRL Board of Directors as Director-at-Large.

Jill Sodt, Director of Library Services at Mott Community College, has been elected to the ACRL Board of Directors as Director-at-Large.

“I am honored and humbled to be elected ACRL’s Vice-President/President-Elect. My sincere thanks to ACRL members for putting their trust in my ability to achieve the vision I described,” Shorish said. “I don’t take the weight of your expectations lightly! I look forward to working with the Board of Directors, members, and potential members to help reinforce advocacy for our professional values and strengthen our community building. The path may be challenging and complex, but our profession is about helping people meet challenges and navigate complexity so they can access, critique, and make effective use of information. I’m excited to do this work with all of you.”

During her 16 years of ACRL membership, Shorish has served as a director-at-large on the ACRL Board of Directors (2021–2025), chair of the ACRL Research and Scholarly Environment Committee (2018-2019) and vice-chair (2017-2018), and chair of the selection committee for the ACRL Research Data Management Road Show Curriculum Designers and the Road Show Presenters (2015–2017). She has also served as chair of the ACRL Digital Scholarship Section Nominating Committee (2017), a mentor for the ACRL Dr. E. J. Josey Spectrum Scholar (2016), and as a member of the ACRL Health Sciences Interest Group Information Literacy Task Force (2011). Shorish also held various positions within the ACRL Digital Curation Interest Group, including past convener (2014-2015), convener (2013-2014), vice-convener (2012-2013), and recorder (2011-2012).

“ACRL is delighted to have Yasmeen Shorish join the ACRL Board of Directors as Vice-President/President-Elect,” said ACRL Executive Director Teresa Anderson, CAE. “Yasmeen has previously served as a Director-at-Large on the Board. While on the ACRL Board of Directors, Yasmeen advocated for and helped codify the transition of the ACRL EDI Committee to a goal area committee in 2022. Along with the entire ACRL staff team, I look forward to working with Yasmeen during her upcoming term.”

Shorish’s experience with ALA includes being a member of the ALA Spectrum Scholarship Jury (2017) and the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association.  

Shorish’s activity with state, regional, and other national associations include serving on the SPARC Board of Directors, (secretary, 2025), SPARC Steering Committee (member and interim chair, 2023-2025), Academic Data Science Alliance Leadership Summit, conference planning committee, (session chair, 2020), Digital Library Federation (DLF) Advisory Committee, (member, 2017–2021), Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Fellowship for Digital and Inclusive Excellence Advisory Group (member, 2017-2020). Shorish also served on the Data Curation Network (DCN) Advisory Panel, (2018-19), DLF Technologies of Surveillance Working Group, (co-founder and convener, 2017-2018), Research Data Access and Preservation (RDAP) Conference Committee (co-chair, 2017), and the SLA-DBIO Home Page Subcommittee of the Public Relations Committee (member, 2010-2011).

Shorish’s honors and awards include the University of Illinois iSchool Alumni Association (ISAA) Leadership Award, (2022), the James Madison University Madison Scholar Award, (2020-2021), the University of Illinois, Health Sciences Information Management Award, (2011) and the Northeastern Illinois University, Award of Merit in Recognition of Outstanding Research, (2009). She was an ARL + DLF Forum Fellow for Underrepresented Groups (2015), ALA Emerging Leader (2013), ARL Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce Scholar (2010), and ALA Spectrum Scholar (2009). Shorish graduated from Northeastern Illinois University, Summa Cum Laude (2009).

Other notable accomplishments for Shorish include her proposed model for research data management professional development for liaison librarians, which was accepted by the ACRL Board of Directors in 2015. While on the ACRL Board of Directors, Shorish advocated for and helped codify the transition of the ACRL EDI committee to a goal area committee in 2022. As chair of the ACRL Research and Scholarly Communications Committee, Shorish participated in the production and promotion of a new scholarly communications research agenda, which was published in 2019.Additionally, she helped gather information and set a strategic vision for the proposed independence and eventual formation of RDAP as a professional association (2017-2018), co-created the Vancouver Statement on Collections as Data; one outcome of the Mellon-funded Collections as Data: Part to Whole grant in 2023, serves on the project team for "Responsible AI in Libraries and Archives," an IMLS grant to support ethical decision-making for AI projects in libraries and archives (2022-2025), and received an IMLS National Forum grant to surface community needs around collective open-access collection development in 2019. Most recently, she was named Special Advisor to the Provost on AI at James Madison University. 

Her publications include Mannheimer, S., Rossmann, D., Clark, J., Shorish, Y., Bond, N., Scates Kettler, H., Sheehey, B. and Young, S.W.H. “Introduction to the Responsible AI Special Issue.” Journal of eScience Librarianship 13(1): e860. https://doi.org/10.7191/jeslib.860 (2024); "Open and Equitable Scholarly Communications: Creating a More Inclusive Future." Prepared by Nancy Maron and Rebecca Kennison with Paul Bracke, Nathan Hall, Isaac Gilman, Kara Malenfant, Charlotte Roh, and Yasmeen Shorish. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries. https://doi.org/10.5860/acrl.1 (2019);  Shorish, Y. Special Issue: The Role of Scholarly Communication in a Democratic Society. Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication. 6(2), p.eP2257. https://doi.org/10.7710/2162-3309.2257 (2018).

For full 2026 ACRL election results, visit the election section of the ACRL website.

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The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) is the higher education association for academic libraries and library workers. Representing more than 8,000 individuals and libraries, ACRL (a division of the American Library Association) develops programs, products, and services to help those working in academic and research libraries learn, innovate, and lead within the academic community. Founded in 1940, ACRL is committed to advancing learning, transforming scholarship, and creating diverse and inclusive communities. Find ACRL on the web, Facebook, Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, and YouTube.