Kessler, Ridley R.

Ridley R. Kessler, Jr., government documents librarian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1970-2003, was born in Hendersonville, N.C., in 1941.

Ridley R. Kessler, Jr., was born in Hendersonville, N.C., in 1941. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned a Bachelor's degree in 1964, a Master of Arts in Teaching in 1966, and a Master of Science in Library Science in 1970. In 1970, Kessler was hired by the Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as Assistant Documents Librarian. In 1973, he was promoted to Federal Documents Librarian/Regional Depository Librarian for North Carolina, a position he would hold until his retirement in 2003. Additionally, he served as Assistant Head of Reference, 1993-2003.

Kessler was very actively involved in government documents librarianship at the national level and served as a member and/or officer of a number of professional associations, including the American Library Association's Government Documents Round Table (GODORT), the Government Printing Office's Depository Library Council to the Public Printer (DLC), the Dupont Circle Group (DCG), and the Task Force on Restrictions on Access to Government Information.