Karen Keninger

Karen A. Keninger (born 1944) is an American librarian and public administrator who served as the director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled for the Library of Congress. She is the first blind person to direct the agency in its history. Keninger previously served as the director of the Iowa Department for the Blind.

Early life and education Karen A. Keninger was born in 1944 and raised on a farm in Ashton, Iowa, the daughter of Donald "Butch" Keninger and Dortena Mae VanderPol. She lost her sight at age seven due to retinitis pigmentosa, and received her first Braille books that year.

She received a bachelor's degree from Drake University in Journalism and a master's degree from Iowa State University in business and technical writing. She also studied library science and information science at the University of Iowa.

Career

Iowa Department for the Blind Keninger joined the Iowa Department for the Blind in 1995, serving in various roles. She was a delegate and presenter at a 1995 White House Conference on Aging.

She became the director of the Iowa Library for the Blind in 2000. During that period, she helped establish the Friends of the Iowa Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. From 2002-2008, she served as chair of the Consortium of User Libraries. As director of the agency, she led the state library program's transition from analog to digital talking books, part of a broader nationwide shift that was roughly 90% complete by 2012. In her time at the agency, she also led the development of a recording studio and enhancements to programming.

In 2012, Keninger was elected as president of the National Council of State Agencies for the Blind, but did not take the office due to her appointment with the Library of Congress. Keninger also served on the Digital Long-Term Planning Group and its successor Digital Transition Advisory Committee.

National Library Service In March 2012, she was appointed by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington as the new director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, a division of the Library of Congress. At the time of her appointment, she became the first person who is blind to direct the program.

In 2013, she organized the first braille literacy conference of the Library of Congress, bringing together about 100 participants, including braille literacy professionals, readers, technology and production specialists, policymakers, and parents, to develop recommendations for the future of braille services. Outcomes of the conference included recommendations for expanded braille training materials, more outward-facing promotion of braille, the reintroduction of tactile drawings in hard-copy Braille materials, and a shift toward braille-on-demand production. Keninger also commissioned a consulting firm to study the cost savings associated with a shift to fully digital braille, and a 2016 Government Accountability Office study of NLS operations lent further support to the effort.

Keninger's primary accomplishments during her time as director include launching a braille E-reader program, tripling the number of titles added to the collection annually, and implementing BARD Express and BARD Mobile apps. Under her direction, the program also developed mobile applications for iOS and Android devices allowing patrons to read the agency's braille and audio books, and implemented text-to-speech technology for supplementary material such as long bibliographies or indexes. During her time in the role, the program also partnered with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to help distribute a currency reader as part of a broader outreach effort.

Keninger also advocated for the United States government joining the Marrakesh Treaty for the Blind, which occurred in 2019. She served as the Marrakesh Treaty liaison for the Libraries Serving Persons with Print Disabilities section of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, and presented at international symposia in Helsinki, Finland; Zagreb, Croatia; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Keninger retired from her role in 2021.

Personal life Keninger resides in Newton, Iowa with her guide dog. She has six children and 11 grandchildren. Creating Opportunities for Independence (2010) My Leadership Journey (2016) The Treaty of Marrakesh: From Good Law to Good Implementation (2016) Getting Started: Implementing the Marrakesh Treaty for persons with print disabilities - A practical guide for librarians (2018) The Continued Significance of the National Library Service for the Blind (2019)