In 2014, after 14 years in the IT department at Partners Healthcare, Brad McKenna became the technology librarian for the Wilmington Memorial Library in Massachusetts. His main duties center around supporting anything with a plug, including computers, printers, databases, the library website. He also digitizes old VHS tapes and 8mm reels for patrons, demystifies technology for patrons through one-on-one tech help sessions, and teaches patrons how to use the 3D Printer. On the non-technology front, he runs a DEI book group that has read about topics, such as African Americans, gender equality, and poverty.

He was the co-host for the Bridging the Digital Divide podcast with Lisa Kapala at Wilmington Community Television. It ran for 58 episodes and won a Massachusetts Creator’s Award in 2017. He is a member of the American Librarian Association’s Bridging Deaf Cultures Interest Group and a volunteer for the Boston Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America.

He failed his first hearing test at five but didn’t get hearing aids until he was 23. He made it through school by sitting up front in class and honing his critical reading skills at home, which helped him earn his BA in English from Northeastern University in 2003. When he finally experienced school with hearing aids while getting his MLS from Simmons University, he realized amplification is not clarification. But it wasn’t until the pandemic that he finally started speaking up for his hearing needs. He must admit that is still a work-in-progress.