Melissa Just, holder of the Valerie and Ronald Sugar Dean’s Chair of the USC Libraries, will start her one-year term as president of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) starting January 1, 2026.
ARL elected its 2026 Board of Directors at the organization’s fall 2025 meeting. The nonprofit organization includes 125 research libraries in Canada and the U.S. whose vision is to create a trusted, equitable, and inclusive research and learning ecosystem and prepare library leaders to advance this work in strategic partnership with member libraries and other organizations worldwide.
“I am excited to lead our Association in the coming year and look forward to working with our member libraries, and ARL’s Board of Directors, executive director, and staff during this critical time,” said Just. “The work that ARL undertakes every day is more important than ever. Through our strategic advocacy, collaborative partnerships, and shared commitment to advancing equitable access to knowledge, we drive learning, research, and innovation at our member institutions and beyond.”
Just’s role as ARL president during 2026 – building on her many years of active involvement and leadership in the organization – will further enhance the cross-pollination of ideas between USC and other ARL member institutions.
“Libraries have a lot to learn from one another,” said Just. “Our organizations are confronting similar challenges with long-term sustainability, connecting our users with trustworthy information, and integrating emerging technologies like AI into our services and daily work. We also have many opportunities to share ideas and work together to create positive and welcoming environments for our students, research and teaching faculty, and the people who work at university libraries.”
A key ARL initiative led by Just during 2026 will be the upcoming ARL President’s Institute, “Unlocking Innovation.” The program will push beyond “innovation-speak” to investigate and share practical approaches to sustainable innovation in improving services, optimizing workflows, and building partnerships among all types of libraries.
The USC Libraries joined ARL in 1962, and Just’s work with the organization dates to 2013, when she was a fellow in the ARL Leadership Fellows Program. During her time as an ARL member representative, she has served on the Governance Committee, Membership Committee, Audit Committee, Membership Task Force, and Board of Directors.
Just will succeed Rhea Ballard-Thrower, dean of libraries and university librarian at the University of Illinois Chicago, who began a one-year term as president on January 1, 2025. The ARL membership ratified the Board’s election of Simon Neame as ARL vice president/president-elect for 2026. Neame is dean of University Libraries, University of Washington, and will become ARL president on January 1, 2027.