Hallie Rich Appointed ALA Policy Fellow

The American Library Association (ALA) has appointed Hallie Rich as a Policy Fellow in ALA’s Office of Public Policy and Advocacy to work on data strategy and access on the library digital book issue.  

“Hallie Rich will provide needed research and policy capacity to enable more effective library advocacy on the digital book issue,” said Alan Inouye, ALA’s senior director for public policy and government relations. “The lack of adequate data on this issue is an observation held by not only the library community, but also by publishers. Rich will provide foundational work to help ALA and the publishing ecosystem address this issue for the long-term.” 

Rich is the communications and external relations director at Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Public Library. Previously, she was a senior consultant with BrownFlynn. Rich earned a B.A. from the College of Wooster and a M.S. from Case Western Reserve University, and is a candidate for the M.L.I.S. at the University of South Carolina. She was instrumental in ALA’s Libraries Transform campaign and serves as a member of the first cohort of the ALA Policy Corps.  

Rich’s work will take place under the auspices of ALA Senior Policy Fellow Sari Feldman and Inouye. There will be engagement with the library and publishing communities and a report is expected to be released in 2022.