Washington, DC - President George W. Bush has named historian Joan R. Challinor Chairman of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS). Dr. Challinor succeeds Martha B. Gould, whose term on the Commission expired July 19, 2003. Dr. Challinor, a resident of Washington, DC, was appointed to her current term on the Commission by President Bill Clinton in 2000; she was first appointed to the Commission in 1995.
Former Chairman Martha Gould expressed great pleasure at the designation of Dr. Challinor as Chairman. “Joan’s experience as Vice Chair of the Commission and her leadership of the Commission’s international committee make her a fine successor to the chairmanship,” said Mrs. Gould. “The past few years have been a time of intensive reexamination of the role of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. The designation of a new Chairman and the efforts of the White House to fill vacant positions on the Commission indicate to me that the Administration recognizes the ongoing and important role that NCLIS can play in developing policy proposals for our Information Age.”
Dr. Challinor’s first official act as Chair was to designate Jack Hightower of Austin, Texas Vice Chair of the Commission. Judge Hightower, a former Member of Congress and former Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, was appointed to the Commission by President Clinton in 1999.
Dr. Challinor is a member of the Library Council of the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and a former director of Knight Ridder, a newspaper and electronic publisher. She was a research associate at the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution from 1984 to 1990. From 1976 to 1984, Dr. Challinor served as a professorial lecturer at American University in Washington, DC. She is a member of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation at the Library of Congress.
Dr. Challinor received her B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history from American University, and she received The American University Distinguished Alumni Award in 1985.
Upon her designation, Dr. Challinor commented, “Martha Gould’s dedication to the needs of the people for library and information services has been exemplary. In an age in which literacy and information literacy are ever more important, NCLIS has a valuable role to play. I intend to work diligently for those projects already undertaken by NCLIS and to seek out opportunities for NCLIS to serve in new and vital areas.”
Dr. Challinor will serve as Chairman until President Bush appoints new members to the Commission and designates one of them to succeed Dr. Challinor. There are currently 12 vacancies on the Commission; the U.S. Senate must confirm nominees for these positions before they can be appointed.
The U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science is a permanent, independent agency of the federal government charged by Public Law 91-345 to advise the President and Congress on the library and information needs of the nation and the policies and plans necessary to meet those needs. The Commission ascertains the library and information needs of the people; translates those needs into recommendations for national policy, and coordinates implementation of national and international library and information services with federal, state and local governments in the United States and with other public and private organizations.