Miles Conrad Award 2020: A panel discussion with James Neal, Deanna Marcum, and Todd Carpenter

This paper is based upon a panel discussion that took place after James G. Neal gave his 2020 Miles Conrad Award address during the inaugural NISO Plus conference that was held in Baltimore, MD (USA) from February 23–25, 2020. The discussion was a thoughtful conversation among three information industry leaders - Neal, Deanna Marcum, and Todd Carpenter - that touched upon many of the issues that continue to swirl within the information community today, such as information literacy, information access, policy awareness and advocacy, digital preservation, collaborative initiatives, diversity, information access and control, etc. There were no clear solutions to the issues, but there was general agreement that the future success of all stakeholders requires that we identify those things where we have common interests and common concerns and build the capacity for legal, legislative, and policy advocacy that will allow all stakeholders to be players not only in their communities, but also, and perhaps even more importantly, in Washington, D.C. and in international venues where global information policies are being set.