# ALA Medal of Excellence

The ALA Medal of Excellence is an annual award bestowed by the American Library Association for recent creative leadership of high order, particularly in the fields of library management, library training, cataloging and classification, and the tools and techniques of librarianship. It was first awarded in 1953 to Ralph R. Shaw, Director of the National Agriculture Library.
The award name was changed in 2020 from the Melvil Dewey Medal to the ALA Medal of Excellence.

## List of recipients

| ALA Medal of Excellence (formerly Melvil Dewey Medal) | Date | Major Accomplishments |
| Loida Garcia-Febo | 2024 | President, American Library Association, President, REFORMA, International librarianship consultant. |
| Kelvin Watson | 2023 | “Achievement for recent creative leadership of high order" as Executive Director, Las Vegas-Clark County Library District |
| Judith Cannan | 2022 | Library of Congress-Chief, Policy, Training and Cooperative Programs Division for "Spearheading: the transition from AACR2 to Resource Description and Access, move of original RDA to new Tool Kit, from MARC to linked data, -- the most monumental achievements in cataloging in recent decades.” |
| No Award | 2021 | |
| No Award | 2020 | |
| Award Name Changed | 2020 | The American Library Association Council voted at the 2019 Annual Conference to remove the name of American Library Association cofounder Melvil Dewey from the Melvil Dewey Medal citing his well-documented history of racism, anti- Semitism. and sexual harassment. |
| June Garcia | 2019 | Developed international Network of Emerging Library Innovators of Gates’ Foundation's Global Libraries, Director San Antonio Public Library |
| Carla J. Stoffle | 2018 | Dean of Libraries and Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, Joseph W. Lippincott Award. |
| Carla Hayden | 2017 | Librarian of Congress |
| Robert R. Newlen | 2016 | Chief of staff at the Library of Congress |
| Hwa-Wei Lee | 2015 | Ohio University Libraries, Hwa-Wei Lee Center for International Collections |
| Robert A. Wolven | 2014 | Digital Content and Libraries Working Group, Library of Congress’ Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control, HathiTrust |
| Beacher J.E. Wiggins | 2013 | Historic merger of acquisitions and cataloging functions Library of Congress; U.S. National Libraries RDA Test Coordinating Committee; New Bibliographic Framework Initiative Library of Congress Bicentennial Conference on Bibliographic Control for the New Millennium. |
| Beverly P. Lynch | 2012 | Training dozens library leaders as director of the UCLA Senior Fellows program; founding director of the California Rare Book School, chair of ALA's International Relations Committee, founder of the US-China Librarians’ conference series. |
| Deanna B. Marcum | 2011 | Creation of Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control at Library of Congress, President of the Council on Library and Information Resources |
| Brian E.C. Schottlaender | 2010 | President, Association of Research Libraries |
| James G. Neal | 2009 | Advisor to U.S. delegation at the World Intellectual Property Organization U.S. Copyright Office 108 Study Group. |
| Sandra Nelson | 2008 | Public Library Association Results series, public library development. |
| Sarah Thomas | 2007 | Bodley's Librarian and Director of the Bodleian Libraries. |
| John D. Byrum | 2006 | Library of Congress, Chief Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division, Program for Cooperative Cataloging. |
| Joan S. Mitchell | 2005 | Editor of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system. |
| Sally H. McCallum | 2004 | Chief of Network Development and MARC Standards Office Library of Congress. |
| David A. Smith | 2003 | Chief of the decimal classification division at the Library of Congress. |
| James F. Williams II | 2002 | Founding member and creator of SPARC the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition. |
| Herman L. Totten | 2001 | Regents professor and associate dean for the school of library and information sciences at the University of North Texas. |
| Paul Sybrowsky | 2000 | Cofounder of Dynix, founder of Snowbird Institute, Ameritech Library Services, President of the board of trustees for the Provo City Library. |
| Helen Moeller | 1999 | Director of the LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library, FL. |
| Winston Tabb | 1998 | Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) at the Library of Congress |
| Robert Wedgeworth | 1997 | Executive Director, American Library Association, Dean of the School of Library Service at Columbia University Director at the University of Illinois Library—working toward the improvement of library services through adoption of the information technology of the day. |
| No Awards | 1996-1997 | |
| Frank Phillips Grisham | 1994 | Executive director of SOLINET, Director, Vanderbilt University Library |
| No Award | 1993 | |
| Michael Gorman | 1992 | Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules; Our Enduring Values: Librarianship in the 21st Century. |
| Lucia J. Rather | 1991 | Director for Cataloging at Library of Congress, developed the character set of diacritical marks and special characters used with the MARC format. |
| Helen Schmierer“ | 1990 | Greatest contribution to protocols of AACR2. Major contributor to Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR, systems/planning analyst, Brown University Library. |
| Robert R. McClarren | 1989 | “Toward Cooperative Collection Development in the Illinois Library and Information Network.” Robert R. McClarren Legislative Development Award. |
| Herbert Goldhor | 1988 | An Introduction to Scientific Research in Librarianship,Research Methods in Librarianship: Measurement and Evaluation. Served in Europe in World War II. |
| Herbert S. White | 1987 | Managing the Special Library: Strategies for Success Within the Larger Organization., Executive Director of NASA Scientific and Technical Information Facility. |
| Richard De Gennaro | 1986 | "Library automation & networking: perspectives on three decades." Research Libraries Enter the Information Age. |
| Joseph H. Howard | 1985 | Chief, Library of Congress Descriptive cataloging division |
| Warren J. Haas | 1984 | President Council on Library Resources |
| Edward G. Holley | 1983 | Dean UNC School of Information and Library Science, |
| Sarah K. Vann | 1982 | Field survey of Dewey Decimal Classification System Use Abroad. |
| Henriette Avram | 1981 | Developed MARC format (Machine Readable Cataloging), Associate Librarian for Collections Services, Library of Congress. |
| Robert D. Stueart | 1980 | Information Needs of the 80s: Libraries and Information Services Role in “Bringing Information to People |
| Russell Bidlack | 1979 | Historical Background of the A.L.A. Catalog. |
| Frederick G. Kilgour | 1978 | President of OCLC |
| Seymour Lubetzky | 1977 | Cataloging theorist ranked among the greatest minds in library science. |
| Louis Round Wilson | 1976 | Dean, University of Chicago Graduate Library School |
| No Award | 1975 | |
| Robert B. Downs | 1974 | "creative professional achievement of a high order" |
| Virginia Lacy Jones | 1973 | "for creative professional achievements of high order." Dean, Atlanta University School of Library Sciences, |
| Jerrold Orne | 1972 | Chaired Z39 Committee, precursor to National Information Standards Organization |
| William J. Welsh | 1971 | Deputy Librarian of Congress, major role in renovation Jefferson Building, development of deacidification process, pilot project optical disk technology. |
| Joseph H. Treyz | 1970 | Books for College Libraries |
| William S. Dix | 1969 | Primary author of The Freedom to Read statement. |
| Jesse H. Shera | 1968 | "Professional creative achievement." |
| Walter Herbert Kaiser | 1967 | "Statistical Trends of Large Public Libraries." |
| Lucile M. Morsch | 1966 | Deputy Chief Assistant Librarian of Congress, Rules for Descriptive Cataloging in the Library of Congress |
| Bertha Margaret Frick | 1965 | Editor, Sears' List of Subject Headings for H.W. Wilson, member Dewey Decimal Editorial Policy Committee, professor Columbia University. |
| John W. Cronin | 1964 | Director, processing department Library of Congress, also chief of the Card Division. Supervised editing of original 167-volume Catalog of Books Represented by Library of Congress Printed Cards. |
| Frank Bradway Rogers | 1963 | Director of the National Library of Medicine, Laid foundation for MEDLARS, Director of the Armed Forces Medical Library. |
| Leon Carnovsky | 1962 | "For long standing achievement as editor, author, teacher and consultant in bibliographical matters." |
| Julia C. Pressey | 1961 | Head, Office for D.C. numbers. Library of Congress |
| Harriet E. Howe | 1960 | “The Library School Curriculum.” |
| Benjamin A. Custer | 1959 | Editor, Dewey Decimal Classification, Chief of the Decimal Classification Division, Library of Congress. |
| Janet S. Dickson | 1958 | Chairman of the Advisory Committee on the Decimal Classification |
| Wyllis E. Wright | 1957 | "A librarian's librarian," Wright was President, Association of College and Research Libraries.Chairman, Joint Committee on the Union List of Serials, the DCC Board on Cataloging Policy and Research, the Catalog Code Revision Committees; and editor of Catalogers' and Classifier's Yearbook, and American Library Annual."Invaluable contributions to the evolution of the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules. Librarian at Williams College. |
| Norah Albanell MacColl | 1956 | Sistema De Clasificación Decimal Dewey : Tablas E Índice Alfabético Auxiliar |
| Maurice Tauber | 1955 | Developer of technical services units and how they evolved in the 20th century. Professor at Columbia University. |
| Herman H. Fussler | 1954 | Director, University of Chicago libraries, Dean, University of Chicago Graduate Library School, helped create the Center for Research Libraries.U.S. National Advisory Commission on Libraries. |
| Ralph R. Shaw | 1953 | Director, U.S. National Agricultural Library, Dean, Rutgers University Department of Library and Information Science, Founder, Scarecrow Press |