Kent Oliver is a Senior Fellow for the Public Policy and Advocacy Office of the American Library Association, involved in policy discussions related to First Amendment freedoms.  In this role Kent mentors, coordinates, and partners with members of ALA's Policy Corp to advance advocacy on fighting book bans focused on Unite Against Book Bans.

 

Kent retired in 2022 as the Director of Nashville Public Library (NPL) where he served from 2012 - 2022. Through his leadership, NPL expanded key programs to promote early reading, adult literacy, and digital learning. In June 2017, Library Journal and Gale named NPL Library of the Year.  NPL's Votes for Women Room opened in 2020 which celebrates the passage of the 19^th Amendment and voting rights.  In May 2022 NPL launched the nationally recognized I Read Banned Books campaign. Also, in 2022 NPL was named Library Journal's Marketer of the Year.

 

He is a three-time past President of the Freedom to Read Foundation, current FTRF Board member, and has chaired the Intellectual Freedom Committee of the American Library Association (ALA). He received the Stark County Ohio Bar Association's Liberty Bell Award for Defense of the First Amendment. His writings on intellectual freedom and defense of the First Amendment have been published in numerous publications. He is a nationally and internationally known speaker on library issues and challenges including literacy and the freedom to read.