As the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Library's Branch Chief & Information Architect, James has spent his career blending his IT background with librarianship to enhance and optimize library services to ensure value. His current duties include oversight of the library’s vast subscription budget, the library's continuous improvement and evaluation efforts, and the library’s Custom Information Solutions (CIS) effort. CIS builds partnerships across NIH 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, creation of disease space funding portfolios, and development of Drupal-based project web sites including one focused on historic pandemic influenza research (http://bit.ly/12c8qVx).

Prior to arriving at NIH, James spent nearly 20 years at the Naval Research Laboratory's 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 SLA, the global association for information professionals, and is currently serving as the IT Division Chair, the IT Division program planner for the 2019 Cleveland annual conference, and is chair of the association-wide SLA Technology Advisory Council. 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 recognition's including 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.