Since 2018, Paula Brehm-Heeger has served as the Eva Jane Romaine Coombe Director of the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library. With a focus on expanding access and driving innovation, Paula is a passionate advocate for public libraries and their essential role in building connections, offering opportunities for learning and providing enjoyment for all members of our community. She oversees our community's 40 public library branches, a Downtown Main Library, and a Distribution Center, serving more than 800,000 people. She is responsible for the oversight of our ambitious Facility Master Plan made possible by continued State support combined with Hamilton County voters' support of both a successful 1 mil levy approved in May 2018 and a levy renewal and increase approved in 2023.

Learn more about her work at CHPL via the Paula's Minute video series, opens a new window.

Paula has worked in public libraries for more than 25 years. Prior to returning to her hometown of Cincinnati, she worked for the Indianapolis Public Library, Anderson (IN) Public Library and the Kansas City (MO) Public Library. Currently a resident of Cincinnati's Clifton neighborhood, she is active in leadership across the County and state, having served as a member of Hamilton County's Commission on Women and Girls, CET's Community Advisory Board, The Workforce Council of Southwest Ohio, the USA Regional Chamber's Alumni Network and as a Board member for the Ohio Library Council.

A graduate of the University of Cincinnati, she also holds an M.L.S. from Indiana University and an M.P.A. from Northern Kentucky University, where she was named the Distinguished MPA graduate for the 2016 program and the Outstanding student by the Association for Public Administrators - Greater Cincinnati Area Chapter. In 2023, Paula was named the Distinguished MPA Alumna by NKU. She is a recipient of the Urban Library Council's Joey Rodger Leadership Award and in 2023, was named by Government Technology as one of their national Top 25 Doers, Dreamers & Drivers. A graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School's Emerging Leaders Executive Education program, she is also an alumnus of both the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber's Leadership Action program (2018) and the Chamber's Leadership Cincinnati program -- Class 43 (2020).