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California Library Hall of Fame

C. James Schmidt

C. James "Jim" Schmidt was former university librarian and professor emeritus at San Jose (Calif.) State University (SJSU) School of Information. A career librarian, he previously served as library director at State University of New York at Albany and Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He was also vice president and chief operating officer of the Research Libraries Group (1981-1989), a member and chair of ALA's Intellectual Freedom Committee (1985-1989), president of the Freedom to Read Foundation (1990-1992), a recipient of the Robert B Downs Intellectual Freedom Award (1990) and a recipient of the Beta Phi Mu Award (2009). Schmidt was also a subject matter expert on joint-use libraries, following his involvement with the creation of the King Library in San Jose, which is jointly operated by SJSU and San Jose Public Library. Schmidt’s extensive career in California included serving on the California State University Commission on Learning Resources and Instructional Technology, California State University Council of Library Directors, the Networking Task Force for the State Library of California and the Network Advisory Committee on the Library of Congress. His master's degree was from Columbia University and he had a Ph.D. from Florida State University.