Ken Hernden

Ken Hernden BA (Hons.), MLIS (Western University) serves as University Archivist and Associate University Librarian with responsibilities for the Queen’s University Archives and the W. D. Jordan Rare Books and Special Collections. The position is a member of the Vice-Provost (Digital Planning) and University Librarian’s senior team that focuses on further enhancing Queen’s University Library’s role as a cultural heritage organization. 

Ken served for the past thirteen years as University Librarian and University Archivist at Algoma University.  At Algoma, he created the Engracia de Jesus Matias Archives and Special Collections and in collaboration with the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association (CSAA) -- former students of the Shingwauk Indian Residential School on whose site Algoma University now operates -- Ken led the transformation of the volunteer-driven Shingwauk Project into a permanent, professionally run department and repository --  the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre (SRSC) under joint university and CSAA management. 

For 2017-2018, Ken was seconded from Algoma University to its Indigenous Institute partner, Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig, to secure funding for and to develop the National Chiefs’ Library, a combined library, archives and gallery, which is now the official repository for the records of the National Chiefs and the Assembly of First Nations.  Previously, Ken served as Head of Reference, Audio-Visual and Systems at the North Bay Public Library, as Adjunct Archivist at York University, and as Librarian/Archivist at Rush University (Chicago, Ill.). He has also served as co-director of the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre, Diocesan Archivist for the Anglican Diocese of Algoma, and as Chair of the Ontario Council of University Libraries.