Ms. Lamont was appointed to her current position as Director of Policy Development for the state of Illinois by Governor George H. Ryan in 1999. Her goal has been to address public policy issues including information access, technology, literacy, families and economic development.

From 1983-1999, Ms. Lamont was Director of the Illinois State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State. Under her leadership, Illinois developed a strong library network infrastructure, many library partnerships and new reading and training programs. She managed an annual budget at the Illinois State Library of more than $70 million in grants and programs supporting intergovernmental cooperation, information access, literacy and reading, and service to specialized clientele. She was Director during the design and construction of Illinois's first state library building. Highlights during her tenure were establishment of an annual Family Reading Night; a Library videoconference training network; statewide library marketing campaign; technological innovations; and a state library construction program. Ms. Lamont received national recognition for her accomplishments as State Library Director.

Ms. Lamont also served on the Board of Directors of the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA), and she received the Illinois Public Humanities Award from the Illinois Humanities Council in 1990. She served as President of the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) and was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Rosary College (Dominican University) in 1995. She was honored as the Illinois Library Association's Librarian of the Year in 1991.

Before becoming Deputy Director of the State Library in 1981, Ms. Lamont was Associate Director for Library Development (1979-1981), and a consultant in the areas of interlibrary cooperation and children's services (1974-1979). She also worked at the public libraries in Champaign, Evanston and Wilmette.

Ms. Lamont earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Clarke College in Dubuque, Iowa in 1970 and a Master of Science degree from the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science in Urbana-Champaign in 1972.