Belanger, University Professor and Honorary Curator of Special Collections at the University of Virginia, is founder of the Rare Books School, a teaching and archive facility.

MacArthur Foundation Fellowships are unrestricted fellowships awarded annually to "talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction. There are three criteria for selection of Fellows: exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishment, and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work."

The MacArthur Fellowship carries a "no strings attached" stipend of $500,000, paid out to the recipient in equal quarterly payments over five years.