Board of Trustees
The Library Board of Trustees serves as an advisory board for the Library Director. Each member is dedicated to library advocacy and listens to the needs of the community regarding what is and isn’t working within the library system. They have served as a voice for the transformation of Main Library and have spoken in support of increased outreach efforts for the Bragtown community while the location was closed for repairs. They share excitement from friends, neighbors, and library patrons who express their love for Durham County Library. The Board of Trustees also supports the library’s budget requests to Durham County and works diligently with staff to review and approve library policies. They are a committed group of individuals, dedicated to Durham County having the best library system possible.
Members of the Board of Trustees are appointed by the Board of County Commissioners. The general public is welcome and encouraged to apply for these appointments.
Meeting schedule, agendas, and minutes
By-Laws of the Board of Trustees
Committees
Public comment
Trustees’ Award
Board members
Hank Kinsley
Chair
Email: hankkinsley@hotmail.com
Mr. Kinsley holds an MBA from Duke University and has held various positions in Business and Finance. He previously served as a library Trustee in coastal Maine. He was interested in joining the Board of Trustees because of the unique role that the Durham County Library plays in helping to educate and train while also serving as a vital community meeting place.
Pronouns: he/him
Willis Whichard
Vice Chair
Email: wwhichard@tillmanfirm.com
I am a lawyer by profession. My career has consisted of private law practice, legislative and judicial service, teaching, and law-school administration. I value the Library because it is the most democratic institution of which I know, benefiting all levels of society. I have used it since I was a small boy. My reading interests are primarily history and biography. I thus owe it a large debt which I have endeavored to pay by service as the Founding President of the Durham Library Foundation and now as a member of the board of trustees.
Ann McLain
Email: amclaindurham@gmail.com
Ann McLain is retired from GlaxoSmithKline, where she began her career as a reference librarian after completing her Master’s Degree in Library Science at UNC-CH. Over the course of her career with GSK, Ann worked in information management, competitor intelligence, and project management roles.
Ann moved to Durham to attend Duke University and stayed to be part of the amazing Durham community. She recently joined the Library Board of Trustees to support the library in its mission and goals as a cornerstone of that community.
Ann is a voracious reader; she has recently been reading retellings of Greek myths from the point of view of the women. Ann’s husband and sister are both librarians, and when they travel together they always visit libraries.
Pronouns: she/her
Carl Newman
Email: carl.m.newman@gmail.com
Carl Newman is a lawyer, public servant, and active member of the Durham community. He brings a lifelong love of libraries started by Mrs. Marks, his elementary school librarian. Carl has previously served on a variety of boards including the Durham Citizens Advisory Committee, the Chicago Bar Foundation Young Professionals Board, and Global Girls, a nonprofit dedicated to providing in- and out-of-school arts programming for girls from middle through high school in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood.
Carl and his spouse moved to Durham in 2018. He joined the Board of Trustees in 2023 when his daughter turned 1. She has already had made her first few trips to Main Library, where she enjoys the collection of board books and puzzles for infants and younger children.
Pronouns: he/him
Katie Kaefer
Email: katiekaefer@gmail.com
Katie Kaefer joined the Library Board of Trustees in Fall 2020 to help support the library’s mission and vision, and to be more involved in the Durham community.
Katie has worked in publishing and scholarly communications for 10 years, most recently as Marketing and Communications Associate at BioOne, a nonprofit publisher of academic journals in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. She holds a Master of Arts degree in American History with minors in Public History and Women’s Studies from the University of Houston and two Bachelor of Arts degrees in History and English Literature from the State University of New York at Geneseo.
Her favorite thing about the Durham County Library is the Lucky Day shelf, and she makes a beeline to it every time she visits the library. Katie’s favorite book from the last few years is Curtis Sittenfeld’s short story collection You Think It, I’ll Say It.
Pronouns: she/her
kynita stringer-stanback
Email: bullcitylbot@gmail.com
kynita stringer-stanback is a seventh-generation North Carolinian and two-time alum of UNC-Chapel Hill – which she notes is the same university whose founding leaders enslaved her ancestors.
kynita has served in academic, corporate, public, and special libraries throughout a 20 year career as an information professional and identifies as a research designer, storyteller, and information activist.
kynita joined the Board of Trustees to become more active in local community initiatives. kynita is concerned with the intellectual property rights of creators, empowering creators, and interrogating the publishing process, paywalls, and public access to information.
Pronouns: ask me
Luis Olivieri-Robert
Email: lfor@netzero.net
Luis works for the City of Raleigh Community Engagement Division, where he coordinates the Raleigh Neighborhood College. He has been an educator for 35 years and currently teaches history at Durham Technical Community College. He has done graduate studies in history, humanities, Spanish, and adult education.
Luis was interested in joining the Durham County Library Board of Trustees in order to bring Hispanic-Latino representation and share ideas and projects to increase support and awareness for the library system. He sees the library as a tool and space to build community, increase learning, and promote dialogue. He likes to read biographies and short stories. Luis is also a track and field athlete at the Masters and Senior Games level.
Miguel Jackson
Email: mjackso1@email.unc.edu
Miguel Jackson is a Public Communication Specialist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While obtaining his MBA at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, he learned that planning and more importantly advocacy are vital to Durham’s library system. He believes the library is important because knowledge is vital to the success of any community. When he is not working at his alma mater or serving the community, he loves to read a good biography or autobiography because it’s history from a unique perspective. He recently just finished reading Grant written by Ron Chernow and also Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom written by David Blight.
Pronouns: he/him
Mrinmay “Moy” Biswas
Email: mbiswas@nc.rr.com
Moy received his Ph.D. at The University in Charlottesville, Virginia. He practiced structural engineering in Manhattan and designed buildings, bridges, nuclear power plants, and nuclear fusion reactors. He taught at Texas A & M University and Duke University. He managed research and the library at the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
As a member of the Board of Trustees, Moy serves as the Library Art Committee liaison. He is also a member of the Durham Engineers Club, and as a member of the Durham Wildlife Club, he manages an eleven-acre fishing lake there in the RTP area. He volunteers as an income tax preparer for the low-income and elderly.
Pronouns: he/him
Liaisons
Commissioner Nimasheena Burns
Liaison from the Board of County Commissioners
Email: nburns@dconc.gov
Anita Robinson
Liaison from the Durham County Library Staff
Email: arobinson@dconc.gov
919-560-0167
Anita Robinson is a Durham native with a B.A. degree in public administration from North Carolina Central University. Anita is the board liaison and the executive assistant to the Durham County Library Director. She enjoys working at the library, as it reaches so many people and offers many diverse programs to the community. Anita is a big Carolina Panthers fan!
Pronouns: she/her
Tammy Baggett
Library Director
Email: tbaggett@dconc.gov
919-560-0160
Tammy is passionate about delivering quality library services in Durham County, where her team places a high emphasis on improving literacy in Durham and offering programs that enhance digital inclusion as it relates to Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM). She also enjoys giving back to the profession by mentoring others.
Pronouns: she/her