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Kelly Richards
President and Director, Free Library of Philadelphia

Kelly Richards is the President and Director of the Free Library of Philadelphia, which serves the residents of Philadelphia through its 49 Neighborhood Libraries, 3 Regional Libraries, Library for Accessible Media for Pennsylvanians (LAMP) and Parkway Central Library. He is passionate about elevating and amplifying the Free Library’s collections and programming to reach all Philadelphians.

Kelly has more than three decades of library experience, having previously served as Director of the Muskegon Area District Library in Michigan and President of the Michigan Library Association. In addition to these roles, he served as the Chairperson for Lakeshore Ethnic Diversity Alliance, an organization that trains government agencies and businesses in Diversity Equity and Inclusion/Belonging.

He began his career in library services in the Las Vegas Clark County Library District before joining the Genesee District Library in Flint, Michigan, where he served as Assistant Executive Director and Branch Operations Manager overseeing 19 branches.

Kelly earned an Associate of Arts and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice at Ferris State University. He served as a police officer in Flint, Michigan and an airport police officer at Bishop Airport, before returning to school to earn his Masters in Library and Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh. In addition, he has received certificates for completing the Snowbird Library Institute, the Michigan Library Association Leadership Academy, and the UCLA Anderson School of Business Executive Education program.

He serves on multiple boards and committees, including the Mayor’s Commission on African American Males, Parkway Council and the Legislative Committee for the Pennsylvania Library Association.

Kelly Richards is published in three books, In our own voices: The Changing Face of Librarianship (Scarecrow Press, 1996), Pioneer African American Librarians in the West (Scarecrow Press, 2006) and The Handbook of Black Librarianship (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024). Richards is married, has three children, and is an avid angler.

Kelly Richards
President and Director, Free Library of Philadelphia

Kelly Richards is the President and Director of the Free Library of Philadelphia, which serves the residents of Philadelphia through its 49 Neighborhood Libraries, 3 Regional Libraries, Library for Accessible Media for Pennsylvanians (LAMP) and Parkway Central Library. He is passionate about elevating and amplifying the Free Library’s collections and programming to reach all Philadelphians.

Kelly has more than three decades of library experience, having previously served as Director of the Muskegon Area District Library in Michigan and President of the Michigan Library Association. In addition to these roles, he served as the Chairperson for Lakeshore Ethnic Diversity Alliance, an organization that trains government agencies and businesses in Diversity Equity and Inclusion/Belonging.

He began his career in library services in the Las Vegas Clark County Library District before joining the Genesee District Library in Flint, Michigan, where he served as Assistant Executive Director and Branch Operations Manager overseeing 19 branches.

Kelly earned an Associate of Arts and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice at Ferris State University. He served as a police officer in Flint, Michigan and an airport police officer at Bishop Airport, before returning to school to earn his Masters in Library and Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh. In addition, he has received certificates for completing the Snowbird Library Institute, the Michigan Library Association Leadership Academy, and the UCLA Anderson School of Business Executive Education program.

He serves on multiple boards and committees, including the Mayor’s Commission on African American Males, Parkway Council and the Legislative Committee for the Pennsylvania Library Association.

Kelly Richards is published in three books, In our own voices: The Changing Face of Librarianship (Scarecrow Press, 1996), Pioneer African American Librarians in the West (Scarecrow Press, 2006) and The Handbook of Black Librarianship (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024). Richards is married, has three children, and is an avid angler.