CURRENT POSITION Executive Director, Warren County Public Library, KY DEGREE M.Ed., Counseling & Human Development, Lindsey Wilson College, KY; M. Theology, Generational Leadership, Campbellsville University, KY; MLIS, University of Kentucky and Louisiana State University; currently in doctoral program at University of Dubuque, IA, studying community leadership FAST FACT Stevens was an Olympic torch bearer in 2002. FOLLOW courtstevens.com/web-agency-gb-portfolio; instagram.com/quartland Photo by Carla Lafontaine

A Bit of Library Everywhere

Court Stevens, executive director of Warren County Public Library (WCPL), is a former adjunct professor, youth minister, and bookseller; runs a hobby farm (four dogs, 10 goats, 20-something chickens, and three babydoll sheep); and has written 10 novels. A thread of care, energy, and vision runs through these disparate roles. 

Stevens came to librarianship through her writing. She frequently attended author events hosted by WCPL, where then-Director Lisa Rice told her, “You should move back here and work for me.” Stevens agreed, starting as Community Outreach Manager. When she succeeded Rice as director in 2023, connection and communication remained top priorities. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Stevens built many community relationships, partnering with county schools to distribute food and lead daily outdoor pop-up classrooms. Those relationships “cemented us,” she says, and helped when two large tornadoes touched down in Bowling Green, KY, in December 2021, destroying nearly 500 homes and businesses and killing 16. WCPL moved into the Red Cross emergency shelter, providing programming for 17 days. Stevens also collaborated with Walmart to provide a free holiday event for families affected by the tornadoes where they could pick from almost $100,000 worth of new toys, blankets, and clothes. 

Now the library is one of the county’s two Red Cross Resilience Hubs, with the responsibility to support and lead disaster preparedness and recovery efforts. Partnering with the American Red Cross Community Adaptation Program, WCPL provides public transportation throughout low-income neighborhoods with the Little Free Shuttle, a new bright green 15-passenger van. If another weather event hits, the shuttle will get residents to warming centers or temporary shelters. In the meantime, it goes to the library, farmer’s market, and Capitol Arts Center. An online database, “Start Here Warren County,” connects people to needed resources. To help support these initiatives, Stevens created and staffed a new position: Community Resilience Lead. 

A series of one-room Satellite Library locations customized for their partner buildings’ locations expanded the library from a four-branch system to 13 locations in under five years. One, inside LifeWorks—a residential community for young adults with autism—opened in 2023 as the state’s first public library branch dedicated to serving neurodiverse patrons. Another, at the International Center of Kentucky, serves new Americans getting established in the city. “There’s a little bit of library everywhere, and the community loves it,” says Stevens. In 2024, event participation topped 170,000 in a county with a population of 140,000. 

Stevens also nurtures employees with big dreams. She launched a Leadership Institute and Pathway Cohort, twice-monthly learning opportunities for her leadership team and a group of frontline applicants. “I’m trying to raise up an army of confident leaders who know how to share the load, increase their own emotional intelligence, and lead with passion and joy,” she says—and models those qualities every day.