Deborah Novotny appointed Head of Collection Care at the British Library

At the beginning of August 2010 Deborah Novotny was appointed to the
post of Head of Collection Care at the British Library.

Deborah will play a significant role at a key moment in the history
of the library and will shape, co-ordinate and oversee the
implementation of the BL's strategic programme of preserving the
physical and digital collections, taking into account the needs of
users now and in the future. This strategic role will steer the
provision of care of the British Library's collection, through the
leadership of the Library's Conservation team, the newly created
Strategy and Compliance team, the Conservation and Preservation
Research team and the Preservation Advisory Centre.

Deborah has over thirty years of experience working both privately
and publicly within the conservation and preservation field. She
started her career in 1976 at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts
and was one of the first women to hold a union card allowing her to
work in the trade as a forwarder. Deborah ran her own business for
many years before joining the British Library in 1989 where she
initially managed the Printed Books Conservation studio before
becoming the Head of Preservation in 2002. Deborah has lectured
widely on preservation related topics both nationally and
internationally and brings a wealth of experience to the role.

Deborah has said

   "The role of Collection Care is fundamental to the changing needs
    of the BL and is currently undergoing a major internal
    transformation mainly as a consequence of the expanding digital
    agenda. I see my role as creating and steering the new policies
    needed to maintain and safeguard our ever-growing collections as
    well as making sure that we develop new expertise and have the
    right mix of skills in place to be able to address these
    emerging issues whilst also ensuring that more traditional
    skills are not overlooked.'


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 24:14
                  Distributed: Monday, August 30, 2010
                       Message Id: cdl-24-14-002
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