James A. Jacobs

Jim Jacobs (James A. Jacobs) is Data Services Librarian Emeritus, University of California San Diego. He is one of the co-creators of FreeGovInfo.info. Jim is a librarian, teacher, trainer, researcher, writer, and consultant. He specializes in government information, providing data services in libraries, OAIS, TRAC, and digital library certification. Jim received his Bachelors degree from Oberlin College and his MSLS from University of Southern California.

Jim served as data services librarian at the University of California San Diego for more than 20 years. In other libraries, he has worked as state government publications librarian, Librarian for Instruction and International Documents, and Documents Librarian. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Public Data Users and the Administrative Committee of the International Association for Social Science Services and Technology. Since 1990, he has co-taught the ICPSR summer workshop, “Providing Social Science Data Services: Strategies for Design and Operation.” He is a technical consultant to the Center for Research Libraries on matters dealing with long-lived repositories and the certification of digital archives.

Some of Jim’s publications include Beyond LMGTFY: Access to Government Information in a Networked World (book chapter in Public Knowledge: Access and Benefits with James R. Jacobs, Edited by Miriam A. Drake and Donald T. Hawkins), Born-Digital U.S. Federal Government Information: Preservation and Access (Report prepared for Center for Research Libraries), The Digital-Surrogate Seal of Approval: a Consumer-oriented Standard, with James R. Jacobs (D-Lib Magazine); Preserving research data with Charles Humphrey (Communications of the ACM); Federal Depository Library Program: Services and Collections (Against the Grain); Government Information in the Digital Age: The Once and Future Federal Depository Library Program with James R. Jacobs, and Shinjoung Yeo (Journal of Academic Librarianship); Government Information in the Digital Era: Free Culture or Controlled Substance? with Karrie Peterson (Symposium on Free Culture and the Digital Library 2005); Government Documents at the Crossroads, with Karrie Peterson and Elizabeth Cowell (American Libraries); and The Technical is Political, with Karrie Peterson (Of Significance…, Association of Public Data Users).

Jim can be reached at jajacobs at ucsd.edu

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