LJ's Kenney To Edit School Library Journal

Laura B. Weiss -- School Library Journal, 7/28/2005

School Library Journal has a new editor. Brian Kenney, Library Journal's executive editor, technology & web, has been promoted to editor-in-chief of School Library Journal, effective August 1. He succeeds Evan St. Lifer, who left in June to join Scholastic Library Publishing as VP and general manager.

Kenney, who earned his bachelor's degree in English at Vassar College and his MS in library science at the Pratt Institute, began his career at the New York Public Library as a reference librarian. After joining the Brooklyn Public Library, he eventually became a manager of the Central Library, where he helped develop the new building plan, serving as project manager for construction of a 10,000 square foot Youth Wing. He was responsible for seven departments in the Central Library including Children and Young Adults, the Multilingual Center, and Languages and Literature.

Since joining Reed Business Information in 2001, Kenney has reshaped netConnect, LJ's quarterly technology supplement, and also edited the annual Movers & Shakers supplement. He also launched LJ's Best-Seller List of most borrowed library books—an industry first. Most recently, Kenney created Library By Design, a new annual supplement on library interiors. In that capacity, he convinced a number of LJ's vendor partners to donate furniture and technology equipment for a makeover of a Queens Public Library branch. The supplement will appear with the September 15 issue of LJ.

In 2004, he received a federal Institute of Museum and Libraries Services fellowship for study in the interdisciplinary Ph.D. program at the University of North Texas, Denton. This Web-enhanced doctoral program supports a cohort group engaged in researching school or public library issues.