Milwaukee Public Library leader to retire
Milwaukee Public Library Director Paula A. Kiely, who has led the library through enormous changes and challenges since 2006, plans to retire Aug. 28.
In a statement praising her leadership, Mayor Tom Barrett said, ““Her emphasis on literacy of all kinds — digital, reading, financial — led to increases in electronic resources, WiFi, laptops, computer classes, job labs and the addition of Career Online High School.”
The Milwaukee Public Library has 14 locations, including the Central Library downtown, with 320 employees and an annual budget of about $24 million. During her directorship, the library has built four new branches and has other construction in the works. The library has also installed solar panels at Central Library and the Atkinson and Tippecanoe branches, and a green roof at Central. (Tippecanoe was her neighborhood branch as a girl growing up on the south side.)
In cooperation with Milwaukee Public Schools and the mayor’s office, her Library Now program has placed nearly 80,000 library cards in the hands of Milwaukee students.
Her other innovations include the Library Loud program, which presented a rap battle and Mondo Lucha Mexican wrestling in library locations.
Kiely has worked for MPL for 25 years. She earned her master’s degree in library science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In June, the Rotary Club of Milwaukee named Kiely its 2020 Rotary Person of the Year.
During her remaining weeks at the helm, Kiely plans “to prepare the library for a full restoration of services (from coronavirus closure); complete the work of a Board task force on financial sustainability, and continue to advance MPL’s work toward social justice and racial equality,” according to a statement from the library.