Alan Inouye

Alan Inouye joined ALA in August 2007 as the Director of the Office for Information Technology Policy. In addition to overseeing the efforts of the Office, Dr. Inouye also serves as the Director of the Program on America's Libraries in the 21st Century. From 2004 to 2007, Dr. Inouye served as the Coordinator of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) and the Coordinator of the Information Technology Subcommittee of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), both in the Executive Office of the President. At PITAC and PCAST, he oversaw the development and completion of Leadership Under Challenge: Information Technology R&D in a Competitive World, Computational Science: Ensuring America's Competitiveness, and Cyber Security: A Crisis in Prioritization.

From 1997 to 2004, Alan served as a study director at the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) of the National Research Council. In 2003, Dr. Inouye served as interim director of the Board. Alan’s CSTB portfolio included a diverse range of projects at the intersection of information technology and the social sciences. A number of his major studies culminated in book-length reports; three of these are LC21: A Digital Strategy for the Library of Congress, The Digital Dilemma: Intellectual Property in the Information Age, and Beyond Productivity: Information Technology, Innovation, and Creativity.

Dr. Inouye began his career in the computer industry in Silicon Valley. He worked as a computer programmer for Atari, a statistician for Verbatim, and a manager of information systems for Amdahl (now Fujitsu). After his years in the private sector, Alan returned to school full-time to earn his Ph.D. in library and information studies at the University of California at Berkeley. In addition, he has earned degrees in mathematics, social sciences and education, management and finance, systems engineering, and information systems. Over the years, Alan has served as a volunteer in a variety of roles such as literacy tutor, alumni club president, career mentor, intern mentor, and database consultant.