Andrew Barker has been Director of Library Services & Learning Development at Lancaster University since September 2019. Prior to that he held a number of senior roles within a wide range of universities, including both Russell Group and Post 1992 Institutions. Within these institutions he has been responsible for all aspects of library leadership, including content, academic liaison, customer services and archives and museums. Throughout his career in HE Andrew has worked visibly, and actively, across the sector, often working closely with publishers on projects and advisory boards. He was a trustee of UKSG between 2014 and 2022, and was chair of its trustee board 2018 and 2022. During his time as Chair of UKSG, Andrew restructured its governance and staffing. Andrew is committed to working for the benefit of all types of SCONUL libraries. He is determined to ensure that all libraries have their voices heard and that libraries remain central and influential within their institution. Never has it been more important for libraries to provide leadership and direction to navigate us all through these challenging times. Outside work, Andrew is to be found playing records with his family.

Libby Homer is the Director of Student and Library Services at Anglia Ruskin University. She was appointed in September 2020, prior to that she had been the University Librarian since April 2018. Before then, Libby worked as Director of Library and Learning Services at the University of East London. She started her career in acquisitions at the University Of Surrey, and has worked for Southwark Council and SOAS. Libby is currently Co Chair of SCONUL and Co Chair of the JISC Learning Content Expert Group. She is a member of the UUK/JISC Content Negotiation Strategy Group. Libby also mentors Chartership candidates and AURORA participants, as well as acting as a mentor for SCONUL’s mentorship scheme. Libby is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

James is University Librarian at University of Exeter where he has responsibility for library services including the UK’s best cinema museum, student skills and learning environments across the university. His previous role was Deputy Director (Library and Academic Services) at the University of Wolverhampton where he was led the University Library as well as business intelligence and first and second line IT support. His career has covered a number of sectors starting out in universities before moving to be Cathedral Librarian at Hereford and then moving across to run the public library services in Herefordshire and Shropshire. Within SCONUL James led work to rewrite the membership criteria enabling a wider range of libraries to benefit from SCONUL membership, as well as working as Treasurer to ensure SCONUL delivers for its members while remaining financially sustainable. His professional interests include customer service, space and skills.

Robin is Associate Director: Head of Libraries within Swansea University’s Academic Services Directorate. Prior to moving to Wales in 2022, he held roles in specialist research, research-intensive and research-led institutions in London, Scotland and South-East England. Robin has sought to establish and enhance collaborations and networks to benefit the academic and research library community throughout his career. He is particularly interested in how partnerships can help libraries deliver infrastructure and services.

Rachel is Director of Library and Cultural Services at Manchester Metropolitan University, where she is responsible for the University Library, Manchester Poetry Library, Special Collections Museum and North-West Film Archive. Before joining Man Met in 2020 Rachel spent 10 years as Associate Director of the John Rylands Library and Associate Director of the John Rylands Research Institute at the University of Manchester, where she was also Head of Academic Engagement. Her previous experience includes special libraries and Further Education. She is Co-chair of the SCONUL Horizons Strategy Group and was previously Convenor of the RLUK Special Collections Network and the RLUK Associate Directors network, and a member of the Wellcome Trust Research Resources Funding Committee. Rachel is passionate about leading change: identifying and seizing opportunities to shape and develop services, collections and spaces in support of student experience and success, transformative research, and impactful public and community engagement.

Having initially trained and worked as a Secondary School English and Drama teacher, Phil swiftly made the decision to alter course, changing career to follow a life of excitement and high adventure in Librarianship. Phil has worked at the University Library at Coventry since 2007 in a number of leadership roles and was appointed University Librarian in 2014 with responsibility for the operational and strategic direction of the service across the entire University Group. He began his career at Durham University in 1999 where he worked for several years, most significantly as an ‘accidental’ Systems Librarian. Phil’s professional interests are wide ranging and include space planning, equity and inclusion, educational resources, and the student journey.

Marilyn Clarke has an MSc in Race and Ethnic Relations. She has worked at Senate House Library, Imperial College, London, and Goldsmiths, University of London where she held the posts of Head of Discovery Services in 2016, before being appointed as Director of Library Services in 2020. She currently works at IALS – Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, the national research library for Law. She joined IALS as IALS Librarian in September 2022. At Goldsmiths, she led on many EDI initiatives including co-Chair of the Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team, co-Chair of the Goldsmiths Race Equality Group (Black and POC staff network), and member of the HR Equalities Committee. She led the Liberate our Library Working Group at Goldsmiths, a decolonisation initiative. She co-delivered workshops on decolonising research and curricula at the Advance HE EDI Conference in 2018, and, by invitation to Manchester University at their Decolonial Curricula workshop in 2019. Over the last 4 years she presented on the theme of decolonisation of library collections and professional practices at several sector conferences, including: ALISS, NoWAL, BLA, ILI, ARLIS, LILAC, CILIP, CILIPS. She has written several professional articles on this subject (UKSG eNews, ALISS quarterly, ALJ, ILI 365), and two book chapters published in 2021. She was a member of the CILIP BAME Network Steering Group which led to the establishment of the CILIP BAME Network and Allies Network. In January 2020, Goldsmiths co-delivered – alongside Birkbeck and UEL - and hosted the ‘Decolonising the curriculum: the library’s role’ conference. She focuses her work on delivering an inclusive service to all library users, leading on decolonisation initiatives, and highlighting issues around diversity, racial inequality, and the lack of Black and POC representation in libraries and HE, particularly at senior level.

Gary has worked at The Open University for 25 years and has extensive experience in strategy development roles. He joined the university’s library service in 2018 as an Associate Director and twinned this role with the Head of Research Strategy and Academic Operation, in the Institute of Educational Technology. Gary has focused on complex business transformation, organisation development and change. He has been awarded two OU Teaching Awards for innovation in teaching and is the co-chair of the SCONUL Organisational Development Group. His current professional interests focus on knowledge and information management and its application in a digital teaching organisation and cross institutional service design. Gary is Co-Chair of The Open University Enabling Staff Network which supports disabled staff across the whole staff community.

Regina Everitt is Assistant Chief Operating Officer (ACOO) & Director of Library, Archives and Learning Services at the University of East London. She began her professional career as a technical author/trainer working with computer companies that developed software for the manufacturing, pharmaceutical and financial sectors in the US and UK. After managing a small library at a university in West Africa as a volunteer with the United States Peace Corps, she transitioned into the HE sector developing and managing libraries, social learning spaces, and other learning resources. At University of East London, she is institution champion for the customer experience strategy and is leading on the development of the institution belonging framework. Concerned about the low representation of Global Ethnic Majority (GEM) staff members in leadership positions in academic libraries, she co-project managed SCONUL research to document BAME staff experiences in LIS with a view to working with the sector to develop more diverse talent. She continues to work with the SCONUL Board to support member institutions in implementing the recommendations from the report. She is also a member of the British Library Advisory Council, a past member of the Steering Group of the M25 Consortium of Libraries as well as a member of a CILIP trailblazer group that is developing a standard for a Level 7 apprenticeship for library, information and knowledge professionals. She co-edited a book called Narrative Expansions: Interpreting Decolonisation in Academic Libraries which considers how academic libraries are navigating this contentious topic. She is currently working on another co-edited work about academic libraries in university estates strategy.

Liz Jolly has been Chief Librarian at the British Library since September 2018. Liz has over thirty years’ experience in a modern universities, most recently as Director of Student and Library Services at Teesside University. An Honorary Professor at Teesside, Liz is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow both of the RSA and of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP). She is a past Chair of SCONUL and is currently a Governor at the University of Portsmouth and a Trustee of CILIP. Current memberships include the SCONUL Future of Libraries Group, the British Academy Heritage Committee and the Editorial Board of the New Review of Academic Librarianship.

Kate Kelly is Director of Library Services & Heritage Collections at RCSI, University of Medicine and Heath Sciences, Ireland.  Most of her library career has been in health science libraries, in hospital and academic health science settings in the USA and Ireland. She is a Fellow of the Library Association of Ireland (LAI) and a distinguished member of the US Medical Library Association Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP).    Prior to libraries she worked in the non-profit sector in information/education roles.   In recent years she has served as Chair of the LAI Professional Standards Committee, Co-Chair of the EAHIL Training & Education Group, and as a member of the Medical Library Association Taskforce to Review MLA's Competencies for Lifelong Learning and Professional Success. She is a former chair of CONUL and represents CONUL on the SCONUL Board.

Martina McChrystal has been Director of Library Services at the University of Glasgow since 2017, responsible for supporting learning and research through library services and collections which are global in reach. The University of Glasgow is one of Scotland’s four ancient universities. Martina joined University of Glasgow in 2015 as Deputy Director and Head of Academic Engagement. She is the current chair of the Scottish Confederation of University and Research Libraries ( SCURL ) and external examiner for the School of Creative and Cultural Business at Robert Gordon University. Martina was CILIP in Scotland president in 2020 and was awarded CILIPs Honorary Membership in 2021. Martina was one of the leads in setting up RLUK’s New Directors’ Network and co-convened the NDN 2019-2021. Martina has served on a number of boards, including Edinburgh’s City of Literature Trust. Prior to joining the University of Glasgow, Martina’s experience includes the role of Head of Libraries at City of Edinburgh Council, community engagement, and local governance through neighbourhood partnerships. Martina was asked by the Scottish Government to chair the National School Library Strategy Advisory Group, leading to the publication of Scotland’s first national strategy for school libraries, Vibrant Libraries, Thriving Schools.

Anna O’Neill joined the University of Warwick in November 2022 and was previously Director of Library Services & Arts Strategy (University Librarian) at the University of Southampton (2019-2022). Anna has worked in the library sector for over 30 years and has a range of experience across a number of sectors, including the NHS, heritage, charities, law and financial services. She has been responsible for a wide range of services throughout her career including IT Services, E-learning, Academic Skills, Print Services, Galleries and a Concert Hall. Anna is co-chair of the Technology and Markets Strategy Group.

Andrew Preater (pronouns: he/him) is Director of Library Services at Goldsmiths, University of London. Andrew joined Goldsmiths in 2023 and provides leadership and strategic direction for the Library. Prior to this, his experience in higher education included posts at University of West London, Imperial College London; Senate House, University of London; and the University of Durham where he began his career working in library systems. Andrew’s professional interests include the role of academic libraries in equity and widening participation and working-class experiences of higher education, and the application of critical librarianship to library leadership. He is also a member of the M25 Consortium of Libraries Steering Group, and is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Emma is Director of Library Services and University Librarian at Loughborough University. She has been at Loughborough since 2013 having held the post of Head of Academic Services before becoming Director in 2015. Emma has worked in academic libraries since 2000 and previously worked in F.E and the commercial sector. She has been a member of the SCONUL Mercian Collaboration Steering Group since 2017 and chaired the Mercian Conference group from 2017-2019 and still maintains a supporting role in this activity. Particular areas of interest include managing the range of stakeholder needs in academic libraries, leadership and support for emerging leaders and managing change in uncertain times.

Katy Woolfenden is the Deputy University Librarian and Associate Director Faculty & Student Partnerships at the University of Manchester Library and a longstanding member of the University of Manchester Library’s senior team. She has worked in the UK higher education sector for over 30 years and is proud of the fact that her career began as SCONUL Trainee at the John Rylands Library. Since then, she has worked at the University of Liverpool and the University of Manchester Libraries in a wide variety of professional roles, including several subject & faculty Librarian roles, and in more recent years has taken senior responsibility for customer services, academic engagement, teaching, learning and the student experience. As Deputy University Librarian, she works in partnership with the University Librarian to take senior responsibility for the operational effectiveness and strategic direction of The University of Manchester Library at both university & sector level. She also takes strategic responsibility for HR and staff learning & organisational development across the Library, along with equality, diversity & inclusion, and library spaces. On a sector level Katy is a member of the Academic Libraries North Board and a member of the RLUK Associate Directors Network and RLUK Space Programme Committee. Katy is particularly passionate about the role of librarians as experts and partners in the development and delivery of high-quality teaching, learning and academic skills, the importance of co-creation and the student voice, and all aspects of staff learning, organisational development and workforce planning.