Kathleen de la Peña McCook, distinguished university professor at the University of South Florida School of Information, is the winner of the 2019 Joseph W. Lippincott Award, presented by ALA for distinguished service to the profession. Letters of support called McCook “an extraordinary mentor and role model to countless students,” “visionary,” “inspirational,” “selfless,” “a risk taker, a political force, a fighter in the trenches.” 0ne writer dubbed her “the People’s Librarian” because of her focus on the “library’s user community and society at large, and students.”