Dr. James K. Elmborg began his career as an educator in 1976 when he worked as a high school English teacher. After completing his M.A. in English in 1984, a Ph.D. in 1995, and an MLIS in 1996 he began working as an academic librarian. Dr. Elmborg was a member of SLIS faculty from 2000 to 2017. He started as an assistant professor and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2006. From 2006 to 2011 he was the Director of SLIS. He returned to working as an Assosiate Professor in 2011 and was promoted to Professor in 2016. After leaving SLIS in 2017, Dr. Elmborg worked as the director of the University of Alabama School of Library and Information Studies until he retired from academic work in January 2022.

Dr. Elmborg's research has contributed to the understanding of the relationship between library practice and critical theory. Many of his publications on this topic can be found through Iowa Research Online. Dr. Elmborg has also significantly influenced the growth of digital humanities at the University of Iowa. In 2003 he launched one of the University's first digital humanities projects, the Virtual Writing University Archive. This digital archive collected recordings of writers talking about this work, initially starting as a collaboration with the International Writering Program and later including recordings from Live From Prarie Lights and other local sources. In addition to these projects, Dr. Elmborg applied his digital humanities expertise to developing the Digital Certificate for Public Humanities at the University of Iowa. 

Dr. Elmborg is the co-author of Centers for Learning: Writing Centers and Libraries in Collaboration. This book explores how collaborations between writing centers and libraries can best serve students' needs. Information about Dr. Elmborg's other publications can be found on his website.