Meet Kelly: Our New Executive Director's Story

We're thrilled that CitiScapes Magazine recently featured our Executive Director, Kelly Kemp-McLintock, in a profile on her career and her vision for the library's future.

Kelly's path here started far from library work — as a broadcast journalist in Northwest Arkansas for 15 years, and later as a nonprofit development leader who helped grow the Jones Center's endowment by more than $30 million over nearly two decades. Along the way, she discovered the same instinct kept showing up: a love of storytelling, and a drive to preserve the institutions that matter to a community.

That instinct is exactly why she was drawn to the library. Before she even took the job, she visited as a regular patron to see it for herself — and what she found convinced her this was where she wanted to be. As she put it:

"It's pivotal. When a city has a vibrant library, it sparks creativity and innovation, and the community thrives."

Kelly is now focused on helping the Foundation grow from a campaign-driven organization into one with lasting, sustainable support — building toward an endowment that protects the library for generations to come.

Read Kelly's full story in CitiScapes Magazine → citiscapescitiscapes