James King

Branch Chief and Information Architect

NIH Library

National Institutes of Health

As the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Library's Branch Chief & Information Architect, James has spent the last several years blending his IT background with librarianship to enhance services and meet the changing needs of the largest medical research agency in the world. James leads the Custom Information Services effort, which is focused on building partnerships to meet the information needs of researchers through the application of information tools. Recent efforts have included digitization of a thousand volumes for public access, development of Drupal-based project web sites including one focused on historic pandemic influenza research (http://bit.ly/12c8qVx), and consulting/development of disease space portfolio analyses.

Previously, James spent 18 years at the Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL) Research Library and was fortunate to be a part of a forward-thinking digital library team during the birth of the internet and web era. James assisted with and later managed one of the first and largest government digitization and Web-based efforts in federal libraries. Ultimately rising to the rank of Chief Librarian, James continued to reshape the library to address the changing needs of researchers and engineers in the 21st century.

James is very active in the Special Libraries Association (SLA), currently serving as the IT Division Chair, IT Division Program Planner, and leader of the SLA Technology Advisory Council (2015-Present). Previously, James has served as DC/SLA Chapter President (2010), SLA Board Chapter Cabinet Chair (2015), SLA Board Secretary (2016), and convener of the Information Futurist Caucus (2007-2016). James speaks regularly on future opportunities in libraries, the role of libraries in researcher metrics, and the role of innovation in creating a new future in government libraries. James has a Master in Library & Information Science from Catholic University (2002) and a Bachelors of Computer Graphics from Salem International University. James has served on several industry library advisory boards and has received several recognitions including the CUA Library School Alumni Award (2015), the FEDLINK Federal Librarian of the Year (2015), SLA Fellow (2011), and SLA Innovations in Technology Award (2006). He regularly carves out free time to go on adventures with his wife Carla and daughter Sarah.