Keith C. Kuhn, age 57 years, a 30 year resident of the Clifton area, passed away at Good Samaritan Hospital on Tuesday evening May 6, 2008. Keith was the Library Services Director of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Mr. Kuhn joined the Library on January 29, 1979 as the Adult Assistant in the Institutions/Books-By-Mail Department. in May 1980, he was appointed Interim Supervisor in the department. He was promoted to First Assistant of the department on June 6, 1983 and became the Department Head of Institutions/Books-by-Mail on March 31, 1986. Mr. Kuhn became the Department Head of Circulation Services in 1993 and was promoted to Deputy Librarian-Main on January 7, 1996. Mr. Kuhn was again promoted on January 30, 2000 as the Director of the newly formed Public Services Office.
Mr. Kuhn has served on numerous professional boards and committees, including the ProQuest Advisory Board and the Macmillan/Scribner's Advisory Board and as the Immediate Past President of the Indiana University SLIS Alumni Board. He also served as President of the W.J. Williams YMCA Advisory board and on the Board of the YMCA of Cincinnati. He received a B.A. from Indiana University/Purdue University, Indianapolis, and a M.L.S. from the Indiana University, Bloomington. He was a member of Beta Phi Chi Chapter. Mr. Kuhn was also a co-founder of the Cincinnati USA Books by the Banks Festival.
Mr. Kuhn was the 2007 recipient of the American Library Association's Sullivan Award for Public Library Administrators Supporting Services to Children. The award served to recognize Mr. Kuhn's leadership role in making children's services and organizational priority for the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Under his direction, a Children's Services Council was created for the PLCH System; this five-member panel established a mission, goals and priorities for children's library services. The success of this council led to the establishment of other such work groups in the library and also received state and national attention as the focus of several key programs at the Public Library Association (PLA) National conference and the Ohio Library Council (OLC) Children's Services Conference.
He also established the Indiana University SLIS-Keith C. Kuhn Tri-State Scholarship for Cincinnati area students to pursue their library degree at Indiana University.
Loving son of Arno Junior and the late Marjorie Jean (Brune) Kuhn of Waldron, IN. Devoted brother of Bruce A. and Max D. Kuhn of Waldron, IN, Sara Meloy of Atlanta, GA and Diana McNeely of Shelbyville, IN. Partner of Mark W. Rebstock. Friends may call at Miller-Busse & Borgmann Funeral Home, 3464 Central Parkway at Clifton Hills, Clifton, Thursday May 8, 2008 from 4:00-8:00 PM and on Friday May 9 from 9:30 AM until time of funeral service at 10:30 AM. Interment, Zion Cemetery, Shelbyville, Indiana. Memorials may be directed to W.J. Williams YMCA, c/o Chuck Barlage, 1228 E. McMillan Street, Cincinnati, OH 45206; Indiana University Foundation for the Keith Kuhn Tri-State Scholarship (or in memory of Keith Kuhn), PO Box 2298, Bloomington, IN 47402 or The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, 800 Vine Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202.
