Tracie D. Hall (born 1968) is an American librarian, author, curator, and advocate for the arts. Hall served as the executive director of the American Library Association from 2020 to 2023. She was the first African American woman to lead the organization since its founding in 1876.
Early life and education Hall was born and raised in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles.
She received a dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in law and society and African American studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1991. She went on to receive a Master of Arts in international studies from Yale University and a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) from the University of Washington Information School, where she studied under Spencer Shaw.
Career
Prior to her appointment as ALA executive director, Hall served as the director of the Joyce Foundation Culture Program. She also served as Chicago's Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. In libraries, Hall was vice president of the Queens Public Library and assistant dean of the Dominican University Graduate School of Library and Information Science. She was the director of the Office for Diversity for the American Library Association from 2003 to 2006. Earlier in her career, she worked at the Seattle Public Library and Hartford Public Library and run a homeless shelter in Santa Monica. In the private sector, she worked as community investment strategist at Boeing’s Global Corporate Citizenship Division.
Hall is founder and curator of Rootwork Gallery, an experimental arts space in Chicago founded in 2016. She has served as a visiting curator at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a visiting professor at Southern Connecticut State University, Wesleyan University, and the Catholic University of America. A poet and playwright, Hall was a Cave Canem Foundation fellow.
On October 5, 2023, the American Library Association (ALA) announced Hall's resignation. Hall had been executive director since 2020, leading the Association through the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2023-2024 Hall is visiting fellow at the University of London Royal Holloway College, researching the impact of Brexit on public libraries in the United Kingdom.
In Fall 2024 Hall will be Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at the University of Washington Information School.LIBRARY LEADER TRACIE D. HALL TO JOIN iSCHOOL FACULTY University of Washington Information School. February 14, 2024.
Publications and presentations Tracie D. Hall has written about community transformation,Hall, Tracie D. (2023) Civic Imagination Stations:Libraries accelerate community transformation American Libraries. the digital divide,Hall, Tracie D. (2021) Information Redlining: The Urgency to Close the Digital Access and Literacy Divide and the Role of Libraries as Lead Interveners, Journal of Library Administration, 61:4, 484–492 community disinvestment,Hall, Tracie D. "Revolutions Where We Stand: We must connect the fights against library and community disinvestment." American Libraries (March 2021). the right to read for the incarcerated,Hall, Tracie D. "Defending the Fifth Freedom: Protecting the right to read for incarcerated individuals." American Libraries(January 2021). and eradicating information poverty.Hall, Tracie D. "Necessary Trouble: Eradicating Information Poverty." American Libraries. September 2020. She has written foundational work on the need for diversity in the library profession.Davis, Denise and Tracie Hall D. Diversity Counts: Demographic Study of the Library Workforce in the United States. American Library Association, 2006; Hall, Tracie D. "Making the Starting Line-Up: Best Practices for Placing Diversity at the Center of Your Library" in Achieving Diversity: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians, eds, Barbara I. Dewey and Loretta Parham. Neal-Schuman, 2006; Hall, Tracie D. and Jenifer Grady. "Diversity, Recruitment, and Retention: Going from Lip Service to Foot Patrol." Public Libraries 45 (Jan/Feb 2006):39–46.
Hall has been a frequent speaker at scholarly conferences. She gave the Bobinski Lecture at the University of Buffalo in 2022: "The urgency of information equity."Legare, Daniel (April 5, 2022) The urgency of information equity University of Buffalo, Department of Information Science In 2022 she was also keynote at the Connecticut Library Association: "Information Redlining: The Role of Libraries in Disrupting the Growing Socioeconomic Divide."Information Redlining: The Role of Libraries in Disrupting the Growing Socioeconomic Divide CLA, May 2022.
Hall presented the keynote lecture at the United Kingdom Library Association in 2020: "Information Redlining: The Urgency to Close the Socioeconomic Divide and the Role of Libraries as Lead Interveners." In 2009 Hall keynoted at the International Federation of Library Associations in Bologna, Italy: "The 10 Ways Visionary Librarianship Can Change the World."
Writing in Time magazine in 2023 Hall quoted Senator Wendell Ford: "If information is the currency of democracy, then libraries are its banks."Hall, Tracie, D. (2023) "Attacks on Libraries Are Attacks on Democracy." Time (September 20, 2023).
Awards and honors 2004.Mover and Shaker Award from Library Journal in 2004. City mayor Eddie Perez designated February 13 "Tracie Hall Day" to acknowledge her service to community of Hartford, Connecticut. 2022. The National Book Foundation announced Hall as the winner of the 2022 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. 2023. Hall named 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. 2023. Hall in the "Forbes 50 Over 50: Impact List" as a warrior for the freedom to read."Tracie D. Hall Is Leading Her Fellow ‘Warrior’ Librarians In The Fight Of The Century." Forbes. August 1, 2023. 2023. Roosevelt Institute honored Hall with the 2023 Freedom of Speech and Expression Award.Roosevelt Institute. Four Freedom Awards. FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND EXPRESSION: Tracie Hall, Executive Director, American Library Association., 2023.
References
External links
About Books with Tracie Hall of the American Library Association, CSPAN