New Librarian for University of London’s Senate House Library

Deputy Librarian and Head of Academic Library Services at Oxford University’s Bodleian Libraries, Catríona Cannon, has been appointed Librarian at the University of London’s Senate House Library (SHL), which houses one of the UK’s largest collections in the arts and humanities.

Catríona is no stranger to the University of London, as she started her career at the Warburg Institute as a trainee librarian, worked at King’s College London and is currently a member of the advisory council at the Institute of English Studies.

Having graduated from Trinity College Dublin in French and Latin with first class honours in 1990, she went on to complete an MPhil in European Literature at the University of Oxford in 1992 and an MA in Library and Information Studies at UCL. 

She has published and presented on library leadership, resource discovery, collection management, open access to scholarly publications and legal deposit, and curated a display on the 20th-century novelist Barbara Pym.

Catríona said: “I know and love the libraries of the University and believe that their potential for research and teaching internationally is amazingly rich. The convergence of a University strategy which foregrounds academic activities with the Baker report and the institutional will to transform and exploit the libraries in ways previously undreamed of, creates a once-in-a-generation opportunity. I am thrilled to be part of the team that embraces that opportunity.”

As well as her role as SHL Librarian, Catríona will also be Director of the Library Transformation Programme, part of UoL’s wider Strategy 2020 – 2025. In welcoming Catríona to the University of London, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Wendy Thomson, said: “We have ambitions to reinvent our libraries to foster new research and learning initiatives, attract international scholars through a visiting fellowship programme, exploit publishing opportunities through the University of London Press, train the next generation of librarians and archivists through internship schemes, and, through new and modernised exhibition and event spaces, offer a stimulating public engagement programme.

“We are excited by developing innovative approaches to our digital offer. We aim to position the University’s library services to fully exploit the transformative effects of digital technologies on learning and research. Catríona will play a vital role.”

Bodley’s Librarian Richard Ovenden added: “We have been very fortunate to have had Catríona as the Bodleian Libraries' Deputy Librarian since 2014.  She has made a huge contribution to our work – and to the University as a whole – ranging from collections, to public engagement, and to our key academic services. It is wonderful to think that SHL will benefit from her many talents.”