New senior appointments for Senate House Library

Pete will be joining us at the end of March from his current role as Assistant Director at Birkbeck, where since 2015 he has been leading teams responsible for the Library’s user support and academic liaison. Pete led the project to refurbish Birkbeck’s Library space in 2019 and the successful application for Customer Services Excellence accreditation, which it achieved last year. Prior to that, Pete was part of the management team at the University of East London Library, overseeing the opening of its award-winning Stratford Campus Library in 2013. Pete also has experience of another federal library within the University of London - UCL, where he worked as a librarian. And he began his career as a library assistant here at Senate House Library, so I’m delighted to be welcoming him back in his new role.

Catherine will be joining us at the beginning of April from her current role as Associate Director (Education and Research) in the Library at the University of Surrey Library. Catherine started as a desk researcher for support to small to medium-sized enterprises in Glasgow before working at Ashridge and then City University as a subject librarian. She established Coventry University's London library, learning technologies and learning support services, moving to Surrey in 2015 to take on Client Services and Academic Engagement. She has experience of customer services, engagement and developing services, as well as collections and research. She is excited by the unique treasures in the Senate House collections, and in ensuring that Senate House retains its special place in the research and library world in the digital age.

Pete’s role will be to lead and manage the services, operations and education functions within Senate House Library, including the provision of library services to University of London federal member institutions and other institutional customers. Catherine will lead and manage the collections, engagement and research functions within Senate House Library, working in close collaboration with the libraries of the School of Advanced Study and developing partnerships with the libraries of the federal member institutions. Both Pete and Catherine will also be key members of the team planning and delivering the University’s Library Transformation Programme and will lead on the relevant strands within the Programme.

Catriona Cannon
Librarian and Programme Director, Library Transformation Programme