Jim Michalko

Mr. Jim Michalko became the Sr. Strategist for the Internet Archive’s Open Libraries after retiring from his position as VP, Research Libraries at Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) in March 2016. Known for his success coordinating large-scale, national, collaborative multi-stakeholder library projects, Michalko leads the outreach efforts for the Internet Archive’s ambitious project to digitize and lend millions of books.

At OCLC, a nonprofit global library cooperative with more than 16,000 member libraries in 100 countries, Michalko had primary responsibility for research library relations and the OCLC Research Library Partnership. The transformative impact of technology on the delivery of library and information services has been the primary thread through Michalko’s long career. He was the CEO of the Research Libraries Group (RLG), a US-based international consortium of research libraries, archives, law and museum libraries that operated collaborative library programs and technical systems.

Similar to many in the library community, the work runs in his family. His mother worked as a librarian in his neighborhood Carnegie library near the steel mills in Cleveland, Ohio where he grew up. He has fond memories of freely roaming the library while his mother gave English classes to the Czech and Slovak residents of the neighborhood.

Michalko holds graduate degrees from the University of Chicago (MBA and MLS) and was an undergraduate at Georgetown University (BA). He’s a dedicated reader, aspiring tennis player and a supporter of various women’s shelters and restorative justice groups on the San Francisco Peninsula.