Kelvin Watson, Director of Broward County Libraries Division, has made transformative changes in his first year and a half with Broward County. He has led ambitious and innovative initiatives that have positioned the Broward County Library as a community leader by streamlining access to resources, introducing new technology, developing partnerships & new collaborative relationships with internal agencies and external organizations.

Kelvin Watson started his career as an officer in the United States Army then transitioned into the private sector as an executive with Ingram Library Services, Borders Group and The Library Corporation (TLC). These positions fueled his passion for the field of library science and he joined the USDA National Agricultural Library and then the Queens Borough Public Library in Queens, New York. In Queens he was instrumentally in the creation of QL Virtual Library, the Flexible Standard for E-content NISO (FASTEN) pilot project and a groundbreaking community mobile tablet lending program post-Hurricane Sandy. Throughout his career, Mr. Watson has remained active and involved in professional associations, has been a frequent speaker and panelist at conferences, has been published in national library literature, and has been recognized numerous times for his work. Mr. Watson is a Past President of Black Caucus of American Library Association and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Book Industry Study Group and was recently elected to the Public Library Association Board of Directors.

Location: Florida

Keywords = Technology, Research, Community Engagement, Virtual Services

$ Speaking Fee ($500)

Willing to Travel

Kelvin Watson

Heidi Rabinowitz

Dr. Erum Shahzad

LaShauna Dean

Nick Demske