James G. Neal is an American librarian, library administrator, and a prominent figure in American and international library associations. In 2022, President Joe Biden appointed him to the National Museum and Library Services Board which advises the agency on general policies with respect to the duties, powers, and authority of the Institute of Museum and Library Services relating to museum, library, and information services, as well as the annual selection of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service.[1]
Neal, whose career dates back to at least 1973, when he was social sciences librarian at City College of New York's Queensborough Community College,[2] is widely active in national and international forums in the areas of copyright and scholarly communication.[3] From 2001 to 2014 he was Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian at Columbia University, and he now serves as University Librarian Emeritus. At the Columbia University Libraries, he focused on the development of the digital library, special collections, global resources, instructional technology, library facility construction and renovation, and electronic scholarship. Before taking up his position at Columbia, he was Dean of University Libraries at Indiana University and Johns Hopkins University and held administrative positions at Penn State's library, Notre Dame's library, and the City University of New York's library.[4][self-published source?]
Columbia's Center for Human Rights Documentation and Research. He participates on key academic, technology, budget and policy groups at the University.[4]
In addition, Neal participated in key academic, technology, budget and policy groups in the University.[4] At Columbia, he has focused in particular on the development of the digital library, special collections, global resources, instructional technology, building construction/renovation, and fundraising programs.[8]
Columbia-Google digitization partnership
Neal was ultimately responsible for Columbia's participation in the Google Books Library Project, which involves a series of agreements between Google and major international libraries through which a collection of its public domain books will be scanned in their entirety and made available for free to the public online.[9] Neal moderated the institutional debate about anticipated consequences inherent in conventional content-vs.-collection strategies; and sometimes he took on the role of public spokesman.
Librarianship
Neal is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences, consultant and published author, with a focus in the areas of scholarly communication, intellectual property, digital library programs, organizational change and human resource development. He has worked on editorial boards of journals in the field of academic librarianship. He has represented the American library community in testimony on copyright matters before Congressional committees, was an advisor to the U.S. delegation at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) diplomatic conference on copyright, has worked on copyright policy and advisory groups for universities and for professional and higher education associations.[4] In 2019, he was named a Senior Policy Fellow for the American Library Association to advise the Washington Office on Public Policy and Advocacy on licensing and copyright. [10]
In 2022, Neal was elected to American Library Association Honorary Membership, its highest honor, for his "influential and wide-ranging role in the arena of information and public policy over four decades."[11] In 2022, he was also honored with the L.Ray Patterson Award which recognizes an individual for supporting the Constitutional use of U.S. Copyright Law, fair use and the public domain [12]
Neal, James G. (2004). "The ReCAP artifactual repository planning project". Library Collections, Acquisitions, and Technical Services. 28: 25–28. doi:10.1016/j.lcats.2003.11.004. S2CID62143475.
Neal, James G. (2006). "The Research and Development Imperative in the Academic Library: Path to the Future". Portal: Libraries and the Academy. 6: 1–3. doi:10.1353/pla.2006.0007. S2CID62170016.
Wilson, Lizabeth; Neal, James G.; Jordan, Jay (2006). "Guest Editorial: RLG and OCLC: Combining for the Future". Portal: Libraries and the Academy. 6 (4): 395. doi:10.1353/pla.2006.0061. S2CID62137176.
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