As the library world gathers in Philadelphia today for its annual convention, the American Library Association has named a new executive director following the surprise departure of Tracie D. Hall in October 2023. Daniel J. Montgomery, currently president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, will assume his new post in November.
Montgomery will take over from interim executive director Leslie Burger, who has served in that role since Hall’s resignation. The search for the executive director dragged on longer than expected, and the ALA executive board reopened its search for a new executive director in November with the help of the search firm Isaacson Miller.
In an email to membership announcing the decision, outgoing ALA president Cindy Hohl thanked Burger for her interim service, calling her "the leader we all needed during these challenging times." She added that the choice of Montgomery to lead the organization reflected "his commitment to public institutions, his comfort working across diverse and difficult political situations, his service to both cities and rural areas, and his experience managing a complex, member-driven organization."
Montgomery's career has been spent entirely in education. He was elected to a three-year term as president of the 103,000-member Illinois Federation of Teachers at the union’s convention in October 2010 and unanimously reelected in 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2022. He joins the ALA at a particularly precarious time for the freedom to read, during which many of the defining legal battles have been, and continue to be, fought over efforts to ban books from shelves in classrooms and school libraries.
This article has been updated with further information.
