Kim Fender

Biography

In 2018, Kim Fender retired from the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County after serving as the Eva Jane Romaine Coombe Director of the Library since 1999. She received a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Northern Kentucky University, an MLS degree from the University of Kentucky and a certificate in foresight studies from the University of Houston. She was awarded a graduate internship at the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, and worked at the Boone County Public Library, the Campbell County Public Library, and ATE Management and Services Company, before beginning employment with Cincinnati’s Library in 1988.

Fender currently serves on the Success by 6 Community Table, the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio Council Board, the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati board, the United Way Public Policy Cabinet, and the University of Cincinnati Library Dean’s Advisory Council.

She chaired the Ohio Library Council’s Government Relations Committee for more than 15 years. She is an elected member of the Campbell County Board of Education and a member of the Board of Directors of the Kentucky School Boards Association.

In 2017, she was named to the Ohio Library Council’s (OLC) Librarian Hall of Fame and was previously named Librarian of the Year by OLC. Fender is a recipient of the Council’s A. Chapman Parson Advocacy Award and the United Way of Greater Cincinnati’s Improving our Community Award.