Kim Fender has served as Executive Director of the Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County since 1999. She was formerly Assistant to the Director and Head, Information Systems. Ms. Fender received her MLS from the University of Kentucky in 1983. She was awarded a graduate internship at the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, and accepted a position as a reference librarian at the Boone County Public Library upon completing her MLS degree.
Ms. Fender also served as Head of Public Services at Campbell County Public Library, and as Manager of Information Services at ATE Management and Services Company, before beginning employment with the Library in 1988 as a Librarian in the Institutions/Books-by-Mail Department. In May 1993 she was appointed to the position of Librarian, Deputy Librarian’s Office—Main Library Services. Ms. Fender was promoted to Assistant to the Director in October 1995 and was named Head, Information Systems, on February 10, 1998. She currently serves on the Success by 6 Steering Council, the Cincinnati State Workforce Development Center Advisory Board, the Ohio Library Council’s Nominating Committee and chairs the Ohio Library Council’s Government Relations Committee. She is a past-president of the Greater Cincinnati Library Consortium Board and the Ohio Public Library Information Network Board.
In 2009 Ms. Fender was named Librarian of the Year by the Ohio Library Council and in 2008 the Cincinnati-Hamilton County Community Action Agency honored Ms. Fender with a Bridge Builder Award. In 2001 she received the University of Kentucky School of Library and Information Science Alumni Association Outstanding Alumna Award and in 1999 was honored with a Professional Achievement Award from Northern Kentucky University.
