Nelson, Jim

Jim Nelson has worked in professional library positions over 35 years and has served as Kentucky State Librarian for more than 25 of those years; the longest serving in that position. He was instrumental in establishing the Kentucky Virtual Library and was chair of the state technology commission for three years. He established the Kentucky Literacy Commission during the term of Governor Martha Lane Collins; served eleven years on The Pritchard Committee for Academic Excellence; and was Speech Writer for Kentucky Governor Wendell Ford during the period when state government was reorganized into the Cabinet structure still in place. Nelson worked in the graduate library science programs at the universities of Kentucky and Wisconsin and has public library experience in Louisville and Hardin County Kentucky. He has advised the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Kellogg Foundation on library issues as well as serving on several federal and other national library and literacy organizations. Nelson has published widely in his profession and has received several state and national awards for his professional achievements. He has a BA from the University of Colorado in English and his MSLS from the University of Kentucky. Nelson is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Libraries and Information Science, Who’s Who in the South and Southwest, Who’s Who of Emerging Leaders in America.