John Pateman has worked in public libraries for 43 years in a number of different roles ranging from Library Assistant to Chief Librarian. He was Chief Librarian of three library systems in the UK: Hackney, a diverse inner London borough; Merton, a multicultural London suburb; and Lincolnshire, a large rural county. He is currently Chief Librarian and Chief Executive Officer at Thunder Bay Public Library. John was part of the UK Government Policy Group at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport that produced Libraries for All: Social Inclusion in Public Libraries - policy guidance for Local Authorities in England, October 1999. He was part of the research team which produced Open to All? The Public Library and Social Exclusion (2000), which influenced the Working Together Project (2004-2008) in Canada. John is on the editorial board of Open Shelf, the Ontario Library Association online journal, and contributes a regular column, 'Open to All?' that explores barriers to library use and how to reduce or remove them. He is the Director of the Cuban Libraries Solidarity Campaign and received the National Culture Award from the Cuban government for his work in support of Cuban libraries. John is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals and a founding member and editorial collective member of Information for Social Change.

He is a member of the Centre for Freedom of Expression Public Library Working Group and the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries Indigenous Working Group. His publications include Developing a Needs Based Library Service (2003), Public Libraries and Social Justice (2010), Developing Community-Led Public Libraries (2013), Managing Cultural Change in Public Libraries: Marx, Maslow and Management (2019) and Marxism and Public Libraries (2021).