Katherine McColgan Appointed Executive Director of the Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA)

July 17, 2017

The Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA) today announced the appointment of Katherine McColgan as Executive Director effective August 8, 2017. McColgan, currently Manager of Administration and Programs at the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL), succeeds Kevin Brennan who has served as the CFLA’s Senior Project Executive since June 2016.

CFLA-FCAB Appoints Katherine McColgan as Executive Director

The Canadian Federation of Library Associations/Fédération canadienne des associations de bibliothèques (CFLA-FCAB) is pleased to announce the appointment of Katherine McColgan as Executive Director commencing August 8, 2017. Ms. McColgan succeeds Kevin Brennan, who has served in an interim role as CFLA-FCAB’s Senior Project Executive since June 2016.

“Katherine is well known to our community as a champion for the library sector. Her extensive experience in government relations, advocacy for the library community, and stakeholder management will be vital to CFLA-FCAB’s continued success in addressing key issues facing Canada’s library community, including Reconciliation and copyright. The CFLA-FCAB board very much looks forward to working with Katherine,” said Peter Bailey, Chair, CFLA-FCAB.

Katherine is a Certified Association Executive and has 18 years of experience working at the national level supporting academic and research libraries, most recently as the Manager, Administration and Programs at the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL-ABRC). She is the Past President of the Ottawa-Gatineau Chapter of the Canadian Society of Association Executives and has previously served as the interim Executive Director of CARL-ABRC. Katherine will continue to support CARL-ABRC one day a week.

Based in Ottawa and fluently bilingual, Katherine will directly engage with federal government representatives to raise the profile of key issues and ensure that the voice of the Canadian library community is represented in policy decisions. CFLA-FCAB will continue to press the federal government for action on issues including support for Indigenous languages and cultures, digitization of and access to Canadian cultural content, and recognition of libraries as cultural institutions.

CFLA-FCAB extends our thanks and appreciation to Kevin Brennan for his leadership during CFLA-FCAB’s first year and ongoing support during the hiring and transition process. “Kevin ensured that CFLA-FCAB had the foundational operational infrastructure and ensured that we completed our first year with funding to continue our work,” said Mr. Bailey. “In that time, we’ve transitioned vital programs from the former Canadian Library Association, encouraged the federal government to launch new programs found in the 2017 budget, re-established Canadian Library Month in partnership with our member associations, and made major strides in supporting reconciliation with Indigenous peoples through the release of our Truth and Reconciliation Report.”