Nancy Davenport was named President of the Council on Library and Information Resources CLIR in 2004. The Council on Library and Information Resources, an independent non-profit organization, seeks to foster new approaches to the management of information resources to ensure their availability, develops leadership initiatives for the library and information professions, and analyses trends to enable libraries to prepare for change. Ms. Davenport served for twenty-six years in the Library of Congress as Director of Acquisitions, Head of the Congressional Research Service Inquiry Section, and Director of Special Programs. Prior to her service with the Library of Congress, she directed a training program for librarians in the new democratic states of Central and Eastern Europe.

Active in professional library associations, Ms. Davenport has served on the Council and Executive Board of the American Library Association and as Chair of the President's Program Committee and the Committee on Constitution and Bylaws. She chaired the Editorial Advisory Board of the Library Administration and Management Association and the Section on Acquisitions and Collections Development of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. She is the former president of the Federal Librarians Roundtable and of the Library of Congress Professional Association.