Transitions National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): President Obama has nominated former Congressman James Leach as Chairman of the NEH. Leach is currently the John L. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs and Co. Visiting Professor of Public and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton. While serving as a member of the House for the state of Iowa, he founded and co-chaired the Congressional Humanities Caucus. Urban Libraries Council: Susan Benton has been named President and CEO. She was previously Research, Development, and Strategic Partners Executive at the International City/County Management Association. Grants UCLA, Harvard, and Yale have been awarded $5 million grants by Arcadia, a funding organization based in the UK whose mission is to protect endangered treasures of culture and nature. The grants provide flexible support for the libraries’ core functions. North Carolina State’s Digital Library Initiatives, along with four partner organiza- tions, have been awarded a $2.18 million grant from the National Science Founda- tion to expand Dryad, a digital data repository. Dryad is designed to archive data that underlie published findings in evolutionary biology, ecology, and related fields. Honors Jim Neal (Columbia) was chosen to receive ALA’s 2009 Melvil Dewey Medal Award, which is given in recognition of creative leadership of high order. The 2009 Melvil Dewey Award will be presented at the ALA Award Ceremony and Reception on Tuesday, July 14, during the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. RLI 264 25 News ( C O N T I N U E D ) JUNE 2009 RESEARCH LIBRARY ISSUES: A BIMONTHLY REPORT FROM ARL, CNI, AND SPARC Memorial Edward Connery Lathem, 1926–2009 Edward Connery Lathem, Dartmouth College Librarian and Dean of the Libraries Emeritus, died unexpectedly on May 15, 2009, in his Dartmouth office at age 82. Lathem served as head librarian from 1968 to 1978. In 1973 he was accorded the rank of dean and he thereafter carried the dual title Librarian of the College and Dean of Libraries. Lathem was the editor or co-editor of several volumes of the poet Robert Frost’s work. While an ARL member representative, he was the Chairman of the Commission on Access to Resources (1973–74) and was elected to the ARL Board of Directors in 1975. He served as ARL President- Elect/Vice President in 1975–76 and President in 1976–77.