And the Winners are . . .

The Official Results of the 2026 ACRL Election

Alexia Hudson-Ward, dean of the library and university librarian at Georgetown University, is the 89th president of ACRL.

“I am deeply honored to serve as president of the Association of College and Research Libraries. Being entrusted with this role by a community I so deeply respect is both humbling and profoundly meaningful. We find ourselves in a complicated and consequential moment for our libraries, our institutions, and the broader higher education landscape. The pace of change is unrelenting, the pressures are real, and the stakes (intellectual, financial, cultural, and civic) are high. And yet, it is precisely in times such as these that our shared purpose must be most clearly defined and most firmly held.

“ACRL will remain steadfast in its commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. These are not peripheral values. They are foundational principles that shape the integrity, relevance, and future of our profession, and they must be advanced with intentionality, thoughtfulness, and appropriate resourcing. Our work must continue to reflect a deep and abiding commitment to access, representation, and justice in all that we do.

“I look forward to partnering closely with the ACRL Board, our dedicated staff, colleagues across ALA divisions, and organizations seeking meaningful collaboration with us. Together, we have an opportunity to deepen partnerships, strengthen our collective voice, and more clearly articulate our positionality on the issues that matter most to our communities and to the future of knowledge work.

“Equally important, I look forward to working alongside ACRL members to develop and advance strategies that support us both professionally and personally. The demands of this moment call for resilience, clarity, and care. As leaders, educators, and information professionals, we must be intentional about how we navigate change (individually and collectively) so that we can sustain both our impact and our well-being.

“I am grateful to be in this work with you. Together, we will continue to move ACRL forward with courage, clarity, and conviction.”

During her 23 years of ACRL membership, Hudson-Ward has held several positions on the ACRL Conference Committees, including chair of the ACRL 2025 Conference (2023–2025), co-chair of the ACRL 2023 Conference Keynotes Committee (2021–2023), and a member of the ACRL 2011 Conference Virtual Conference Committee (2009–2011).

Hudson-Ward has also served on the ACRL College Libraries Section as past chair (2020–2021), chair (2019–2020), and vice-chair (2018–2019). She was a member of the ACRL Budget and Finance Committee (2016–2020), co-chair of the ACRL Instruction Section (IS) ALA Midwinter Conference IS Soiree (2007–2008), and a member of the ACRL Marketing to Academic and College Libraries Committee (2007–2010). Hudson-Ward also served as a member of the ACRL IS and the Women and Gender Studies Section (2007–2009), the ACRL IS Instruction for Diverse Populations Committee (2007–2009), and a member of the ACRL IS Advisory Committee (2007–2008).

Hudson-Ward’s experience with ALA includes Life Membership in ALA and the Black Caucus of ALA. She has also served as a member of the ALA Executive Board (2012–2015) and divisional executive board liaison to ACRL, ALSC, and United for Libraries. She was also the ALA councilor representing the Pennsylvania State Chapter (2010–2015). Hudson-Ward was a member of the ALA Committee on Professional Ethics (2020–2021), a member of the ALA Steering Committee on Organizational Effectiveness (2018–2020), a member of the ALA Budget and Planning Assembly (2011–2015), a member of the ALA Training, Orientation, and Leadership Development Committee (2007–2011), a member-mentor for the ALA Emerging Leader Program (2008–2009), and a member of the ALA Recruitment Assembly (2007–2008). She is currently a member of the Library History Round Table (LHRT).

Hudson-Ward’s activity with state, regional, and other national associations include serving as the Pennsylvania Library Association’s ALA chapter councilor (2010–2015), a Board of Directors member (2010–2015), and chair of the Annual Conference Evaluation (2008–2010). Her service to the Pennsylvania African American Library Association includes terms as president (2007–2008), vice-president/president-elect (2006–2007), and immediate past-president (2008–2009).

Hudson-Ward’s honors and awards include ALA Emerging Leader (2007), the Pennsylvania Library Association’s New Librarian of the Year (2007), a Library Journal Mover and Shaker (2008), Penn State Great Valley School of Professional Studies Faculty Diversity Achievement Award (2008), and the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information Outstanding Young Alumni Award (2013). She was a Penn State Big Ten Academic Alliance Academic Leadership Program Fellow (2013–2014) and a UCLA Library Senior Fellow 2024 cohort member.

Other notable accomplishments for Hudson-Ward include co-creating the successful MIT Libraries–ACRL Diversity Alliance Administrative Fellow program to prepare underrepresented talent for future academic library leadership. During her tenure as Oberlin College’s first BIPOC Azariah Smith Root Director of Libraries, she spearheaded naming the main library after civil rights leader Mary Church Terrell and supported an educational partnership with the Smithsonian.

Hudson-Ward’s board memberships, both past (LYRASIS and Center for Research Libraries) and current (“The Conversation U.S. Edition,” and The Corning Museum of Glass [ex-officio]) support the global library community, scholars, writers, and artists across the disciplines through publishing, research, curatorial, and shared resourcing. As a faculty member of Harvard’s Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians and a nonprofit volunteer, she has positively impacted nearly 1,000 leaders as a leadership development educator.

Additionally, Hudson-Ward conceptualized Choice Publishing’s Toward Inclusive Excellence (an award-nominated multimedia blog that advances discourse regarding diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, belonging, and social justice in higher education) along with Mark Cummings and Bill Mickey, serving as its inaugural editor-in-chief for three years.

Her publications include D. Fife and A. Hudson-Ward, “Professional Development,” in A.C. Powers, M. Garnar, and D. Fife (eds.), A Starter’s Guide for Academic Library Leaders: Advice in Conversation (Chicago, IL: ALA, 2019); A. Hudson-Ward, J. Widholm Rodrigues, and S. Walter (eds.), Cultural Heritage and the Campus Community: Academic Libraries and Museums in Collaboration (Chicago, IL: ACRL, 2022); and A. Hudson-Ward, “Open, Inclusive and Diverse,” in S. Hirsh (ed.), Library 2035: Imagining the Next Generation of Libraries (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2024).

Yasmeen Shorish, associate dean for research and scholarly communications at James Madison University, has been elected ACRL vice-resident/president-elect. Shorish will become resident-elect in July 2026 and assume the presidency in July 2027 for a one-year term.

“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. 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.

“We won’t overcome all our challenges in a year or two, but I am confident that we can make sustainable progress in areas that matter to the profession and to members. For many of us, it can be difficult to feel that we have the power to change things for the better in today’s world. But I believe that our power in coalition, collective action, and community building can be tremendous and transformative – both for us as individuals and for the profession as a whole.

“In this upcoming year, I’m looking forward to learning more about what strategies are underway already and where we can extend or buttress those efforts from ACRL President Alexia Hudson-Ward and the Board. I’m excited to do this work together 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).

Shorish’s experience with ALA includes being a member of the ALA Spectrum Scholarship Jury (2017) and the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association. Her 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 1 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).

ACRL Board of Directors

Vice-President/President-Elect: Yasmeen Shorish (1,073); Russell Michalak (489)

Director-at-Large (4-year term): Eric Edwards (1,389)

Director-at-Large (4-year term): Jill Sodt (1,409)

Anthropology and Sociology Section (ANSS)

Vice-chair/Chair-elect (3-year term): Jylisa Kenyon (76)

Member-at-Large (2-year term): Doss Hill (77)

Arts Section

Vice-chair/Chair-elect (3-year term): Leah Sherman (56); Courtney Stine (38)

College Libraries Section (CLS)

Vice-chair/Chair-elect (3-year term): Jason Keinsley (377)

Member-at-Large (2-year term): Sarah Sheehan (239); Kristin Fowler (169)

Secretary (1-year term): Krista Pegnetter (389)

Community and Junior College Libraries Section (CJCLS)

Vice-chair/Chair-elect (3-year term): Laura Mondt (133); Marc Meola (42)

Member-at-Large (2-year term): YiPing Wang (136); Kris Goss (40)

Secretary (2-year term): Christopher Bienvenu (161)

Distance and Online Learning Section (DOLS)

Vice-chair/Chair-elect (3-year term): Chelsea Nesvig (143); Mollie Peuler (110)

Member-at-Large (2-year term): Christina Norton (150); Anthony Joachim (93)

Secretary/Archivist: (2-year term): Kelly Safin (134); Lia Horton (111)

Digital Scholarship Section (DSS)

Vice-chair/Chair-elect (3-year term): Jennifer Hootman (225)

Member-at-Large (2-year term): Kaylee Alexander (201); Charlie Bennett (158); Diana Castillo (88)

Secretary: (2-year term): Maxwell Gray (136); Whitney Russell (99)

Education and Behavioral Sciences Section (EBSS)

Vice-chair/Chair-elect (3-year term): Carin Graves (152)

Member-at-Large (2-year term): Dawn Cadogan (135); Nicole Carpenter (22)

European Studies Section (ESS)

Vice-chair/Chair-elect (3-year term): Milan Pohontsch (59)

Member-at-Large (1-year term): Hélène Huet (56)

Secretary (1-year term): Marissa Bischoff (30)*; Sarah Gilchrist (30) *elected by lot

Instruction Section (IS)

Vice-chair/Chair-elect (3-year term): Camille Abdeljawad (435); Nicole LaMoreaux (172)

Member-at-Large (2-year term): Danica E. White (564); Kate Johnson (422);

Jennifer Beach (330); Jason Dupree (314)

Secretary (1-year term): Megan Hodge (348); Kendra Macomber (247)

Literatures in English Section (LES)

Vice-chair/Chair-elect (3-year term): Eric Jeitner (49); Jon Hesseldenz (28)

Member-at-Large (1-year term): Teresa Gray (42); Jeanne Ewert (33)

Secretary (1-year term): Laura Semrau (60); Whitney Bevill (15)

Politics, Policy & International Relations Section (PPIRS)

Vice-chair/Chair-elect (3-year term): Kimberly MacVaugh (90)

Member-at-Large (2-year term): Patricia Takacs (48); Rosalind Tedford (45)

Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS)

Vice-chair/Chair-elect (3-year term): Audrey Pearson (172); Rebecca Bramlett (84)

Member-at-Large (3-year term): Maggie Kopp (143); Kasia Leousis (105)

Science and Technology Section (STS)

Vice-chair/Chair-elect (3-year term): Chapel Cowden (142); Jeanne Hoover (71)

Member-at-Large (2-year term): Andrea Pritt (151); Michelle Mussuto (60)

Publicity Officer (2-year term): Laurie Neuerburg (171); Dan Broadbent (42)

EDI Officer (2-year term): Gissel Rios (207)

University Libraries Section (ULS)

Vice-chair/Chair-elect (3-year term): Kate Langan (383); Jane Hammons (381)

Member-at-Large (3-year term): Olivia Chin (605); Victoria Antwi (444);

Delores Carlito (402)

Women and Gender Studies Section (WGSS)

Vice-chair/Chair-elect (3-year term): Janice Grover (120)

Member-at-Large (2-year term): Ashley McGuire (120)

Secretary (1-year term): Joshua Salmans (119)