Western Kentucky University’s Sean Kinder was recognized with the Outstanding Academic Librarian Award by the Kentucky Library Association at its awards luncheon Sept. 29 in Louisville.

            “I was extremely moved and very grateful for the nomination and honor,” said Kinder. “Knowing it came from my friends and colleagues in the library profession made it all the more meaningful, and I hope they know how thankful and appreciative I am of their support.”

            Kinder is an associate professor in the Department of Library Public Services at WKU Libraries, where he has served as the Humanities/Social Sciences librarian since January 2001. In addition to reference responsibilities, Kinder is the library’s liaison to the international students, the Honors program, and is responsible for collection development and research instruction for modern languages, sociology, journalism and broadcasting, folk studies, anthropology, archaeology, pop culture, and other select departments.

He chairs the committee for the Evelyn Thurman Young Readers Book Award, which has honored authors and illustrators from across the globe who have completed Kentucky-related books for youth. Kinder is working on a new book on 1930s Hollywood film star Una Merkel to be published by the University Press of Kentucky and spent part of this past summer on a faculty research grant at the Performing Arts Special Collections at UCLA.

            “We were very excited to hear of Sean’s recent honor,” said Brian Coutts, Department Head for WKU Library Public Services. “He’s an outstanding librarian and the recognition is very well deserved.”    

This is the sixth time in 16 years that a WKU Librarian has received the Outstanding Librarian of the Year recognition from the Kentucky Library Association. For more information about the Kentucky Library Association, go to kylibasn.org.