American Library Association Elects Next President

James G. Neal, the former vice president for information services and university librarian at Columbia University, on Friday was narrowly elected the next president of the American Library Association. Neal edged out Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe, professor and coordinator for information literacy services and instruction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Christine Lind Hage, director of the Rochester Hills Public Library in Michigan, by a few hundred votes. A member of the ALA since 1976, Neal will assume the presidency following next year's annual conference.