CV

Personal Profile

I have a continual improvement disposition and a passion for improving libraries and higher education. I enjoy networking and collaborating with colleagues across the sector, working in partnership to develop new initiatives to benefit students. I have strong analytical skills which I used to introduce tangible change in line with strategic priorities. I am a naturally approachable, professional person with the ability to communicate at all levels. I have a proven track record in leading a team to achieve, supported by my positive, encouraging nature.

Key Achievements

  • ­Provided consultancy services to university strategic leaders and libraries on an international basis to improve the customer experience.
  • Introduced the LibQUAL+ research methodology to evaluate over 100 HE libraries across Europe in partnership with the Association of Research Libraries and the Society of College, National and University Libraries.
  • Led the team through a global pandemic enabling library services to be provided at a distance without intruption of services to customers, ensuring the safety and welfare of the team.
  • Created a culture of empowerment and continual improvement grounded in user needs for the Library, successfully growing the team by 30% and brining in the budget with less than 0.5% varience.
  • Created a new team and strategy to integrate library information literacy live training with the university tuition strategy, resulting in improved student success.

Employment History

The Open University                                                                                      

Associate Director
April 2019 – Present

  • Shared responsibility of the Library strategy planning and management, including business planning, risk, workforce planning and budget management.
  • Leadership of the Student and Academic Services team whose remit focusses on faculty relationship management, engagement and insight activities, digital capabilities strategies, curriculum development and support for the whole OU community.
  • Strategic relationship management with key faculty and professional services stakeholders to ensure the Library is incorporated into University strategies and policies.
  • Define and enable an exemplary, high performance departmental culture which seeks to empower all colleagues to deliver a Library focussed on user needs and continual improvement.
  • Lead a team of 45 staff, with direct management of 7 staff and cross-departmental responsibility for 125 staff.
  • Oversee the Library staff and non-staff budget, ensuring it is managed effectively and in line with financial regulations and procurement practices.

Senior Library Manager (Engagement & Insight)
October 2017 – April 2019

  • Developed and led the library insight strategy, overseeing and delivering research of strategic value to the library, including end-to-end project management.
  • Commissioned, analysed, interpreted, and communicated library insight research to a variety of audiences in an engaging and persuasive manner using a variety of channels.
  • Advised and guided colleagues across the Library and the University on how to conduct user experience research, including qualitative and quantitative methodologies. 
  • Provided strategic direction of the Library communications plan, overseeing the planning, development and maintenance of departmental internal and external communications, ensuring maximum impact and consistency of messages.
  • Provided strategic direction for the effective management and development of library space to ensure it met the needs of a diverse range of customers, in partnership with the University Estates team.
  • Led, performance managed, and motivated staff assigned, including recruitment and annual appraisal, personal development planning and objective setting.
  • As a member of the Extended Leadership Team contributed to strategy development, ensuring a responsive and customer-oriented approach to service development and delivery, with a focus on continuous improvement.

Senior Library Manager (Student Engagement)
January 2015 – September 2017

  • Acted as the key Customer Relationship Manager with a nominated faculty and professional units. Ensured the products and services supplied by Library Services supported the University’s strategic priorities.
  • Led the enquiries team to ensure Library user queries were answered effectively within service level agreement timeframes.
  • Led the Library’s live tuition team to provide digital and information literacy training online in line with student expectations and service quality standards.
  • Led, performance managed, and motivated staff assigned, including recruitment and annual appraisal, personal development planning and objective setting.
  • As a member of the Extended Leadership Team contributed to strategy development, ensuring a responsive and customer-oriented approach to service development and delivery, with a focus on continuous improvement.

Cranfield University in partnership with the Association of Research Libraries

LibQUAL+ Support Officer  (Europe)                                                    
2003– December 2014

  • External client management including promotion of the LibQUAL+ survey and ongoing support.
  • Creating and delivering training workshops internationally on survey deployment, data analysis and interpretation.
  • Year-on-year analysis of the national SCONUL LibQUAL+ dataset including quantitative analysis in SPSS and qualitative analysis in NVivo.
  • Providing bespoke end-to-end consultancy to clients based on their requirements, including survey deployment, analysis, presentation of findings in writing and in person, costings and invoicing.

Cranfield University                                                                                       

Library Quality Officer                                                     
2005– December 2014

  • Managed library assessment activities to improve the student experience, ensure the strategy was fit for purpose and represented value for money.
  • Developed an annual improvement cycle incorporating student insight and business intelligence into strategic planning.

Assistant Team Leader 
2009 – Six month secondment    

  • Led a team of six academic liaison librarians and two library assistants.

Research and Development Officer
2002 – 2005

  • Executive assistant to the Director and Deputy Director of Information Services, responsible for strategy and policy creation, research, statistical analysis, marketing and electronic library developments.

Professional and Voluntary Roles

  • Member of the International Conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries conference board
  • Director of the Library Performance Measurement Conference Community Interest Company
  • Elected academic-related member of The Open University Senate
  • Participant in the Library Integration in Institutional Learning Analytics (LILLA) project
  • Member of the Library Assessment Conference organising committee
  • Member of the Journal Usage Statistics Portal (JUSP) Community Advisory Group
  • Member of the SCONUL Working Group on Performance Quality, Performance Portal Sub-Committee
  • Social media manager for a local charity music festival

Professional Development

  • AdvanceHE Future Professional Directors
  • Introduction to project management
  • Risk identification and management workshop 
  • Introduction to agile
  • Influencing skills
  • Supporting your team through change
  • Challenging conversations
  • Managing performance & absence
  • Recruitment, selection & interviewing
  • Understanding unconscious bias
  • Cultural Intelligence
  • Career development and staff appraisal (CDSA) for managers
  • Employment law for managers
  • Conducting equality analysis
  • General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
  • Prevent (Counter-Terrorism)
  • Association of Research Libraries Service Quality Evaluation Academy
  • NVivo Essentials
  • Further analysis in NVivo

Software Application Experience

  • Microsoft Office including advanced Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Visio, Publisher
  • Microsoft Outlook, Teams and Skype for Business
  • Microsoft Sharepoint and OneDrive
  • IBM SPSS Statistics
  • NVivo Qualitative Coding Software
  • Social media for professional use including facebook, twitter, flickr, Instagram and hootsuite
  • Website creation and editing including WordPress and Drupal
  • Canva graphic design