RLUK is pleased to announce that John MacColl, University Librarian and Director of Library Services at the University of St Andrews, became the new Chair of RLUK as of 20 March 2015 following his tenure as RLUK Vice-Chair. John replaces Dr Stella Butler who completed her two-year term as Chair last month.
John has been University Librarian at St Andrews for four years. Prior to that he was European Director of OCLC Research, and has held posts at the Universities of Glasgow, Aberdeen, Abertay and Edinburgh. On becoming the new Chair, John commented: ‘It was a privilege to be elected Vice Chair last year, and now to be Chair of one of the world’s foremost research library organisations. I am grateful to my predecessor, Stella Butler, whose leadership resulted in the introduction of our new strategy, Powering Scholarship, which will form the focus of RLUK activities to 2017. We face enormous challenges as a profession at this time, but I am confident that the excellent set of libraries that compose RLUK will work hard together to support and strengthen the UK’s world-leading performance in research.
RLUK also welcomes Richard Ovenden, Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, to the Board of Directors. Richard was appointed as Bodley’s Librarian in February 2014, and has previously held roles at the House of Lords Library, the National Library of Scotland and the University of Edinburgh.
