<% IssueDate = "3/8/04" IssueCategory = "People" %> GayToday.com - People
People

Brad Koogler and The Stonewall Library & Archives


A Conversation with Jesse Monteagudo

On February 2, Brad Koogler became the first full-time Executive Director of the 30 year-old Stonewall Library and Archives (SLA), the largest GLBT collection in the South. A native of Ohio, Koogler was associate editor for Outlook News, "the Independent Newspaper of Ohio's Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Community Since 1996", and administrator of Network Columbus, that city's 2,000-member gay chamber of commerce.

Koogler is also active in the Ohio State University Gay Alumni Association Scholarship Committee and in the Kenyon College Gay Alumni Association. He also served in the boards of directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, Kaleidoscope Youth Coalition, Columbus Gay Men's Chorus, Stonewall Union and the Columbus Metropolitan Club.

Koogler was also one of Columbus, Ohio's "20 Top Leaders in 2001" and was recognized by the Columbus Jaycees in 1999 as one of the city's "10 Outstanding Young Citizens." As Executive Director, Koogler will be responsible for development, marketing, program delivery and facilities management for the Stonewall Library and Archives.
Brad Koogler, Executive Director of the Stonewall Library and Archives

Though Brad Koogler arrives in Fort Lauderdale with excellent qualifications, this is the first time that he is involved with a Library. According to Koogler, while in Columbus "the closest thing that I was engaged in that corresponds to the activities at Stonewall Library and Archives was when I was involved with my alma mater's, Kenyon College's gay alumni association. We organized an alumni reunion this last fall and a project that I helped create there with one of the professors was an oral history on gay alumni. So they did their project, the oral history, they did the appropriate research, they did the interviews, and we helped facilitate alumni to be interviewed over the phone and in person. And was their class project. So that, in terms of my community involvement that's the closest thing."

Koogler's background, he tells me, "comes from the business community and from community activities. They brought me in to help provide a professional business framework to the organization and to move it from a community-based organization and take it to the next level. The folks on the Board and [past president] Robert Nathans, who was an unpaid executive director for the past several years, built a great foundation which enabled us to take the organization to the step." Even so, SLA will continue to serve South Florida's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community

In an article he wrote for the SLA newsletter, the Archeion, Koogler noted that his "background covers a breadth of experience in administration, fund-raising, public relations and nonprofit leadership. I promise to bring all those talents to bear on behalf of SLA."

According to Koogler, "a lot of organizations follow a pattern of development and I have seen organizations that are in the same place [as SLA] in their development. In terms of what the Stonewall Library and Archives does and is, it is unique in it's position, not only here locally but nationally in what it does. As you probably know it's one of the few such institutions across the country that's dedicated to preserving gay history and culture. That, I think, is really very exciting and should provide a great foundation. It is an easy message and an important message to get out."

The Stonewall Library and Archives' mission is "to collect, preserve, educate and organize materials relating to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered culture and history." As Executive Director, Koogler's goal is to "help develop a business plan which will include things like how to market the organization better to the local community and to other kinds of users in the academic community; how to bring more money into the organization, both through individual donations and grants; and how to bring folks through the door - what kinds of activities or programs we can offer to help people just get in this space and maybe pick up a book and get a membership. The other thing that is really important to us is solidifying the foundation that we got so far and solidifying our presence nationally among our peers and really focus on admission of collecting and preserving gay history and culture here locally."

According to the job description, "the executive director will have the opportunity to plan and carry out the product and delivery service" of SLA. To do so, Koogler has been "meeting with folks internally and externally and getting the big picture of how we operate and how folks perceive us in the community. And I am happy to report, so far, that the folks that I've talked to who know about Stonewall say that it's a great organization, which makes me very happy. But there are [still] a few folks out there who don't know we exist so there is an opportunity out there to let them know what we do."

As president of the Stonewall Library from 1985 to 1988, when it was primarily a lending facility, I wanted to know if Koogler saw his organization as becoming less of a lending library and more of an archives and research facility. Happily, Koogler assures me, "we will still be a lending library. My goal is that we build our library collection but also our archival collection, to really capture as much material there is out there. There are great opportunities for us to expand our collection in terms of folks who want to give us things and organizations that are defunct or what not. So there's great opportunity on that end."

Before Koogler came on board the SLA Board of Directors, especially past president Robert Nathan, did all the work that will now be done by the ED. Under Koogler, the SLA Board will move away from being a "working board." "Now that I am here, I'll take over those operational things which will free them for non-working board kind of activities, raise money and bring in more of their peers into the organization."

On the other hand, SLA still needs a corps of volunteers to run the circulation desk and perform other necessary tasks. "We couldn't operate without our corps of volunteers," Koogler tells me. "They are integral to the functioning of this institution. Essentially, almost everyone involved in this organization has been a volunteer. And because we have them at our circulation desk we are able to tell people that, of all our peer institutions across the country, we stay open more hours." So, if you want to volunteer for SLA, Koogler "will take volunteers every day."

On the other hand, SLA has become more of a "professional" organization. This, says Koogler, is "the direction that we want to move towards. Because with that structure in place it will free us to be able to allocate our timing of resources that everyone is involved in appropriately." SLA is also trying to revive the Board of Trustees under the leadership of its new president, Dr. Louis Benevento. The new Trustees "will have a fundraising role as we are in the process of creating a foundation arm of the institution and they would have management over that foundation. But we also want those folks to have significant resources or name recognition that they are able to leverage on behalf of the organization."

Brad Koogler, Stonewall Library and Archives Executive Director, with Dr. Melodie Moorhead, the new President of the SLA, at a State of the Library meeting
Photo By: Jesse Monteagudo
To its credit, SLA is a "Teflon organization," with none of the conflicts or controversies that have plagued the GLCC and other organizations. Koogler attributes this good fortune to "the people who are involved. I think there's been a high value placed on a certain level of professionalism and decorum and integrity that gives this organization a core value. And that was one of the things that attracted me to the organization because I wouldn't work for an organization that didn't have that and they had that up front so that was a good thing."

As everyone knows, recently the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of South Florida, whose building houses Stonewall, signed a contract with Tarragon Realty to sell its land to Tarragon for it to build high-rise condos, including a new but smaller Center. That this will affect SLA, whose lease with GLCC expires at the end of the year, goes without saying.

According to Koogler, "at this point in time we anticipate needing to find new space by the end of this year. We currently have a search committee in place that is looking at multiple options for both long-term, permanent space and temporary space because what I think will happen is that there will have to be some kind of temporary quarters for a couple of years before we can work out a permanent space solution. As part of that process we talked to developers. We talked to folks who own real estate. We talked to folks who sell real estate. Every time a sign goes up in the neighborhood or along Wilton Drive or somewhere in the locality we make a phone call to see what folks are looking to do with that space, that land or that building. That's one of the things that we want to touch on in our State of the Library meeting [on March 1]. This will be an opportunity for the general community to give us feedback and input."

I pointed out that there are people who visit SLA because the GLCC is next door - and vice versa - and that if Stonewall was located 2 or 3 miles away from the Center it would discourage people from going there. Koogler agrees that "we get a lot of walk-in traffic because of the Center. But part of what we want to be able to do with the organization is to distinguish ourselves from other organizations because we are at a point where we are coming into our own. And it's time to own up to that as an organization, that we can be a full-fledged entity out there and that we have enough resources and credibility and good people to make that happen."

Wherever it goes, SLA hopes to continue its relationship with the GLCC, as well as with Arts United and other GLBT organizations. Koogler himself "hopes to continue that relationship [with the Center], even if we leave this particular space. I had a conversation with Bill Peters [GLCC Executive Director] and he said, you know, let's continue to work together no matter where we fall out physically and I absolutely agree with that. I come from a collaborative background and that's what I am used to and that's what makes sense for me. So I want to maintain a working relationship with GLCC."

Meanwhile, Koogler's SLA is planning to continue to hold the social and educational events that made it one of our community's most popular gathering spots. We will have an author on March 5 and a screening of The Sum of Us - featuring a younger, cuter and more attractive Russell Crowe -- on March 12. On April 1, from 6 to 8 p.m., SLA will be holdingAn Affair to Remember, a "signature fundraising event" at the Grand Resort.

Meanwhile, the newly-settled Brad Koogler has had opportunities to meet with the locals. "I've been out and about in the community which is part of what I want to do and get a feel for the community because it's brand new to me. I have never been here before so I am trying to get acclimated. Yesterday I did softball tryouts. I am going to play softball" with the local gay softball league. "As I get settled and acclimated I'll be doing more community stuff and getting out there, both professionally and personally."

I asked Brad is there is a possibility of Stonewall sponsoring a softball team. "Well, that's a possibility. I could float that around. [He laughs.] It's funny because there are many things that I would manage but I said a long time ago that I would never manage a sports team. It's much harder than managing the Library, any board of directors or any organization. I don't know why but it is." [We both laugh]

Though he has only been here for a few weeks, Koogler already likes Fort Lauderdale. "The weather is absolutely incredible. I moved here from Columbus, Ohio where it was sub zero weather with the wind temperature and, you know, 4 inches of snow and I come down here to beautiful sunny skies and the weather is delightful, though people warn me that it's going to get a bit warmer and more humid." And, I remind him, rain in the summer. "I told people that I gave Ohio 38 years of winter so at least I have to give Fort Lauderdale 38 years of summer and then it will be a tossup."

"The other thing I want to say about Fort Lauderdale and this area is this. I have never been here before but when I went out into the community the people were friendly. They came up to me and talked to me and shopkeepers would say hello, where are you from, and I found it to be a very friendly and inviting community which had that Midwestern sensitivity. So it helped make my decision. It wasn't such a foreign place for me to move to." [He smiles.] As Koogler settles into his new job at the helm of the Stonewall Library and Archives, I am happy to report that he likes us. And we like him back. [We smile.]

Jesse Monteagudo is a past president and current member of the Stonewall Library and Archives, which is the recipient of many of his "Book Nook" books. You may reach him at jessemonteagudo@aol.com .

For More ...
Related Stories
Mark Meinke and the Rainbow History Project

James T. Sears: Historian-Scholar Southern Style

James T. Sears on Rebels, Rubyfruit & Rhinestones

Related Sites
Stonewall Library & Archives