Joan Ridder Challinor is the former chairperson of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science in the United States.
She was succeeded as Chairperson by Beth Dustan Fitzsimmons.
Challinor serves as the Chairperson of the Advisory Committee of the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Radcliffe College.
She is a member of the Madison Council at the Library of Congress.
She is a founding member of the Louis Round Wilson Academy.