Chris Batt
Chris Batt OBE is Chief Executive of MLA, the lead strategic agency for museums, libraries and archives. In all of MLA's strategic programmes and developments is a strong commitment to making museums, libraries and archives learning organisations, delivering exciting learning opportunities to every citizen from the lifelong learner to the professional researcher.

Previously Chris advised on the use of information and communication technologies in museums, archives and libraries, and led the Government's People's Network programme. His task was to connect all 4,300 public libraries to the Information Superhighway by the end of 2002, giving universal public access to the rich information and learning resources that are now being created in Cyberspace. It was a project completed on time and in budget.

Until August 1999 Chris was Director of Leisure Services for the London Borough of Croydon where he had worked for over 20 years. Closely involved in the development of Croydon Clocktower, the award winning cultural centre, his responsibilities as Director of Leisure Services included libraries, museums and heritage, the arts, sport and recreation, parks and open spaces, and tourism.

In 1999 Chris advised the Department of Culture, Media and Sport on the creation of the new Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries. He has a keen interest in the development of information technology for public use having been involved with the development of computer systems to support cultural heritage and learning since the mid-seventies. He continues to lecture in many countries around the world and has written many books and papers.

Bronwyn Brady
Bronwyn Brady is the new Time Bank Mentoring Refugee Project Coordinator for Leeds Library and Information Service. Prior to this she was the Library’s Refugee and Asylum Seeker Advice Worker. Her role was to lead on and develop a library service for refugees and asylum seekers; develop and deliver staff training on sensitivity and awareness of refugee issues; and to work in partnership with other organisation and refugee communities. The post was funded through the Paul Hamlyn Foundation over an 18th month period. Previously Bronwyn had worked directly with refugees and asylum seekers as a Refugee Support Worker. She has also worked in libraries for over the past 8 years. She is a qualified Librarian and is currently working towards her MSc Information Studies.

Bronwyn also has a Fine Art background . She has a BA ( Hons) English and Art History and is a practising artist having had exhibitions in the UK and America.

Trevor Brown
Trevor Brown is the Head of Library Services for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. He has worked in public libraries for forty years and over the last decade has developed a reputation for building, indeed he never travels without hard hat, high visibility jacket, rigger boots and a scale rule!

Always with an eye for opportunity, he has replaced five libraries since 2000 using a variety of different funding models and partnerships.

Barking Lifelong Learning Centre is scheduled to open in 2007 and he already has his next major regeneration scheme on track to deliver another new library in a mixed use development.

Trevor usually declines invitations to speak at conferences, as he prefers to do rather than talk but he has been persuaded this time.

Helen Carpenter
Helen Carpenter is the Project Co-ordinator for Welcome To Your Library and is based at the London Libraries Development Agency. She has a degree in modern languages and is a qualified librarian. Prior to this project, she worked for 20 years in cultural regeneration and sustainable tourism, working closely with local authorities, but based either in the voluntary sector or undertaking work through her company. She is interested in innovation and processes which are a catalyst for change.

Jan Clark
Jan Clark has worked in public libraries since the early 1980’s, having started her working life in special and college libraries.

She worked for Kirklees Library services from 1987 to 1996 before joining Leeds Library and Information Service in 1996. Jan worked for Leeds until 2005 during which time she held a variety of posts, including Children’s Librarian, Area Manager and Excellence Manager.

She was appointed to the post of Chief Librarian/ Area Manager Huddersfield for Kirklees in 2005 and started work with the service in January this year. The aim of this new post is to take a strategic lead on the development and delivery of the library service in Kirklees through the Library and Information Centre service whilst also leading on the management of the central Huddersfield area.

Library and Information Centres bring together a broad range of front line council services into one community hub, including all council enquiries, benefits advice and payments. The post is somewhat unusual for a Chief librarian role in that Jan is not an Assistant Head of service but rather advises that post holder on the national library agenda and works with staff to ensure that the library service develops and delivers within the wider LIC agenda.

Jan has also worked at a national level, leading on developing the first public library impact measures for the Museums Libraries and Archives Council and Society of Chief Librarians. These were introduced in 2005 and will form part of the Comprehensive Performance assessment of local government culture services in 2007. She is also an accredited peer reviewer with IdeA and has worked on a peer review of a library service on behalf of MLA.

John Dolan OBE
Head of Library Policy at the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council

In January 2006 John Dolan was appointed to the new post of Head of Library Policy at the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. The MLA is the national development agency for museums, libraries and archives, advising government on policy and priorities for the sector. MLA’s roles are to provide strategic leadership, to act as a powerful advocate, to develop capacity and to promote innovation and change amongst the sector it represents.

In 1990 John became lead manager for community library provision in Birmingham. From1993 he was Head of Birmingham Central Library, the country’s most visited public library and in 2001 became the Head of Birmingham Libraries. Recently in Birmingham he was also responsible for Early Years and Childcare, Family Learning, the Youth Service and Adult Education. Previously he had worked in St Helens running Library, Archive and Museum services and in Manchester with a focus on community libraries and service innovation.

John has been an active member of many working groups and national initiatives. In 1997 he was project leader for the development of the national strategy that became The People’s Network, leading to the national programme for Internet provision in every UK library. John was awarded the OBE in 1999 for services to libraries.

Suzanne Enright
Suzanne Enright (BA (Hons), Dip Lib Inf Sci, MCLIP) has been the Director of Information Systems and Library Services (ISLS) at the University of Westminster since 1999. She was previously Deputy Librarian at Imperial College.

Suzanne is currently Chair of SCONUL (the Society of College, National and University Libraries) which represents the directors of the library and information services in the higher education institutions of the UK, together with the directors of the UK’s national libraries. (It also represents all the equivalent directors in Ireland). Her tenure is from 2004-2006 and she has introduced and overseen a wide ranging programme of review and restructuring of activity and finances. Suzanne was previously SCONUL Vice-Chair, an elected member of the Executive Board and member of various Advisory Committees (including the Buildings and Marketing/Communications Committees).

Suzanne has been involved in other national and regional activities including as a member of the MLA Routes to Knowledge Steering Group and as Secretary of the M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries (2000-2004). She was previously an elected member of the M25 Steering Group, of M25 Link Project Board of Directors and of both the University of London Libraries’ Staff Development Group and M25 Staff Development Group. Suzanne has served as a co-opted member of the UCISA Executive Committee and is a member of the London Metropolitan Network Business Development Group.

Andrew Green
Head of Libraries & Information Services, Coventry City Council since 2001, leading the service from an Audit Commission judgement of ‘Poor Service, Unlikely to Improve’ to ‘Fair Service with Promising Prospects’ in 2 years.

Developed partnerships with Adult Education, Children and Families, City College, Coventry, Coventry & Warwickshire Hospitals Teaching NHS Trust, Coventry PCT, Learndirect, Surestart and Tesco.

Chair of Coventry Lifelong Learning Forum; Chair of Coventry Asylum Seeker and Refugee, Education, Employment & Training Group; Co Chair of the Coventry Health Information Partnership.

Co Director of INSPIRE England, representing the Society of Chief Librarians on the National Steering Group.

Past Chair and founding member of the Community Services Group and Chair of the Libraries Change Lives Award Judges.

Sarah Greening
Health Information Co-ordinator, West Midlands Library Services Development Unit.

I gained a BSc and MSc in Biomedical Sciences at University of Wales. Over the next 10 years I worked as a pathology lab technician, a pathology IT system manager, a Project Manager of national RCT and a data analyst with the Breast Screening Programme.

In 2000 I moved to the West Midlands and was employed to improve access to quality information for the public in the West Midlands region. This started as a 3 year project and now has been written into the core function of the West Midlands Library Services Development Unit. The main outcome of my work is the website called EQUIP (Electronic Quality Information for Patients). (www.equip.nhs.uk). EQUIP links only to evaluated information-rich websites and lists national and local support group organisations, local community and voluntary organisations, information in other languages, find your nearest… and information for other information providers.

I am also involved in PALS and librarian networks within the region and lead or assist in many projects to do with health information for the public, including a 4 month secondment to manage and evaluate the Child & Family Information Centre at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. I am currently involved in partnership working with other sectors – social care and voluntary sector and public libraries etc. and am working closely with Pharmacy Leads, Health Promotion and Public Libraries in fulfilling their current health information requirements. I am also an Associate member of the PiF (Patient Information Forum) steering group and their Regional co-ordinator for the West Midlands.

Anne Hannford

Kevin Harris
Kevin Harris has 20 years experience in community development with a particular emphasis on how people communicate, share information, and interact at local level.

He has worked with numerous community groups, carried out research for a wide range of agencies, and contributed advice to government on various issues including community online networks, social inclusion, public libraries and communities, and active citizenship. He was previously a British Library research fellow and has worked in public and special libraries.

Kevin runs the neighbourhoods weblog and continues to contribute to the public library movement. He is an associate consultant to the Community Development Foundation and the National Extension College, and an associate of the Centre for Intergenerational Practice. He established the Local Level consultancy in 2005.

kevin@local-level.org.uk
www.local-level.org.uk
http://neighbourhoods.typepad.com/neighbourhoods/

Mary Heaney
Mary Heaney has been the Director of Learning Centres at the University of Wolverhampton since 1996. She has previously held roles as Director of Administration at St Andrew’s College Glasgow and as Manager Library Services, BBC Scotland.

Mary is currently Higher Education Director of Inspire on behalf of SCONUL (the Society of College, National and University Libraries) leading the national rollout of the service in partnership with the Society of Chief Librarians and Inspire’s major sponsors.

Mary's experience in the past 30 years ranges over academic and special library environments spanning the university, higher education college and NHS sectors as well as the broadcast media service. Her strong commitment to collaboration across boundaries has been fostered through roles at national and regional levels with partners in a range of library sectors. In addition to work within SCONUL Executive and SCONUL Research Extra and representing SCONUL on the UCISA Executive Committee, she has been a member of the Joint Funding Councils' Research Support Libraries Group, various JISC groups, Convenor of the Libraries Partnership: West Midlands, member of the West Midlands Regional Cultural Consortium, and chaired a Policy Advisory Group (PAG) for the former Library Association on devolution and regionalism. She is currently a Trustee of the Media Archive for Central England.

Philippa Jones
Pippa Jones is Head of Customer Services at Leeds University Library. A post she has held since 1998. She joined Leeds University Library in 1995 as a science subject specialist after a varied career in HE libraries, retail and teaching.

As part of the recent restructuring of Leeds University Library, Pippa directed a successful change management programme for the Customer Services section of the Library, focusing on staff development and training to facilitate change. Her recent projects include the development of a range of quantitative and qualitative service feedback mechanisms, including cross sectoral mystery visiting; the implementation of RFID self-service in parts of the Library and the introduction of a dedicated enquiries team serving all library sites.

Professor Andrew McDonald
Andrew is Director of Library and Learning Services and Head of Lifelong Learning Centres at the University of East London. Previously he was Director of Information Services and Professor of Information Management and Strategy at the University of Sunderland, and before that Deputy Librarian at Newcastle University. He has planned award-winning new libraries at both latter institutions.

At the University of East London, Andrew is currently developing a new service strategy, leading cross-sector learning partnerships within the community and creating new library buildings. As well as developing new lifelong learning centres in London, he chairs the M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries Working Group on Student-centred Services.

At national level, he chairs the International Panel of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals and the Society of College, National and University Libraries Working Group on Space Planning. Other national activities include the Higher Education Funding Council’s Space Management Group and the Department of Culture Media and Sport’s Inspiring Learning for All Group. Currently he is Director of a JISC-funded project concerned with the strategic management of ICT in colleges and universities, and he has acted as a new library consultant for numbers of universities in the sector.

Within the International Federation of Library Associations and Institution’s, Andrew is a member of University Libraries and other General Research Libraries Section and continues his involvement with its Section on Buildings and Equipment. Director of several international seminars for The British Council, he has undertaken training and consultancy work all over the world, most recently in China, Mexico and Lithuania.

Publications, conference papers and research work embrace digital libraries, strategic planning, quality management, distance and lifelong learning, information skills, staff development and library planning and design.

Meg Message
Refugee Projects Manager, Leeds Metropolitan University
Up until 2003 Meg Message was Learning Centre Manager at the City Campus library at Leeds Metropolitan University with responsibility for the management and development of library provision to support the academic programme. She also had a principal responsibility taking the lead role for staff development and training across the whole of Learning Support services.

After a professional career of almost 40 years, which has included posts in public, school, and FE libraries, Meg decided to transfer her skills and experience to an entirely different role in the university before reaching retirement age. For the last two and a half years, she has acted as Refugee Projects Manager with a remit to develop appropriate partnerships and projects in the university in support of refugees in the local community. She recently completed an Aim Higher project looking at the barriers refugees face when accessing HE. In particular, she has been responsible for implementing a flourishing refugee mentoring scheme, pairing university staff with refugees with an academic/ professional background.

Meg works closely with colleagues in Leeds Metropolitan University Library and the public library service in Leeds. This partnership and the widening access to their services have been crucial in the ongoing delivery of refugee support.

Glynis Platt
Glynis Platt started her career in libraries as a Graduate Trainee at the then British Library Lending Division. Following a postgraduate diploma in librarianship at Manchester Polytechnic, her first professional post was as a Senior Library Assistant at the Brynmor Jones Library at the University of Hull. She then moved back to Greater Manchester as College Librarian first at Oldham College and then Bury College. After 13 years in FE libraries she moved to the newly emerging nursing college library system as Division Leader for Learning Resources for the South West Manchester College of Nursing later, the Manchester College of Midwifery and Nursing.

In 1996 the college was taken over by the University of Manchester and Glynis became part of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester firstly as the nursing subject specialist and then moving into modern languages as this was her academic background.

In 1999 Glynis became the Widening Participation Co-ordinator working with colleagues across the university to deliver programmes to young people in Greater Manchester and the North West who had the ability to progress into HE but lacking the family background to encourage them. To her knowledge this post is unique in university libraries and, while all universities run Widening Participation programmes, few have involved the library as extensively as at The University of Manchester.

Margaret Snook
Margaret Snook is Head of Cultural Services for Worcestershire County Council. She read French and Librarianship at University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, spending a terrifying and exhilarating year working in a large library in Paris. She started her career working as a children’s librarian in a rural backwater of Suffolk before being lured by London’s bright lights and the library services of Hackney and Islington. In 2000 she was appointed Head of Community Services for Greenwich, a great job once she got over the culture shock of working south of the Thames. In 2004 the attraction of country living proved too strong so she moved to Worcestershire to take up her current post of Head of Cultural Services. She manages, in addition to libraries and archives, the excavation of muddy ponds (Archaeology Services), births, deaths and civil partnership ceremonies (Registration and Coroners Services), touring arts in draughty village halls (Arts Services), learning ambassadors (adult and community learning) and a notable costume collection (Museum Services).

Professionally, Margaret has been President of the Association of London Chief Librarians, a board member of the regional MLA for London (ALM London), and the London representative on the SCL Executive.

She has two ginger cats, a passion for the countryside, and an addiction to Lindt chocolate, which she tries (but fails) to overcome.

John Stone
John Stone takes up his post as Chief Executive of LSN (the Learning Support Network, which will take on the research, consultancy and development interests of the LSDA (Learning and Skills Development Agency) in early April.

LSN is a not-for-profit organisation offering services to policy-makers, practitioners and organisations funding, managing and providing education. Programmes previously delivered by LSDA and continuing beyond April 2006 are being delivered by LSN

Prior to taking up this appointment he was Principal of Hammersmith and West London College. His previous career has taken him to Merton Technical College, Kilburn Polytechnic, Kingston College of Further Education, Bournemouth and Poole College and Swindon College, where he was Vice-Principal.

John is Chair of the Association of Colleges London Region, Vice Chair of the London Metropolitan Network (LMN) Limited and has been appointed as an LSC representative on the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) where he also chairs the Learning and Teaching Committee. He is a member of the London West LSC. He is also a member of the Boards of the Southall Regeneration Partnership, Hammersmith and Fulham Regenesis and West London Business and is a participating observer on the London Development Agency Board.

Chris West
Christopher West has worked at Swansea University since 1994, and has been Director of Library & Information Services since 1999. His previous posts at Swansea were as Deputy Director and as Sub- Librarian (User Services). Prior to that, he worked in a variety of posts at Leicester University Library for eighteen years and for three years at the National Library of Wales. His professional interests include marketing and communicating with customers, performance measurement, library design and library co-operation.