A leading figure from one of the world’s great libraries is the latest in the long line of internationally-renowned academic leaders to join the University of Aberdeen.
Chris Banks (46) will join the University this autumn from the UK's national library - the British Library in London - in the key post of University Librarian.
Chris, who will take up post in October 2007, has over twenty years' experience at the British Library, latterly as Head of Reference and Research with responsibility for leading the provision and development of the Library's reference and research services which cover all disciplines and serve audiences from academic researchers to large corporates and individual entrepreneurs.
Chris studied music at Goldsmiths' College, London, and worked for Travis and Emery and English National Opera before joining the British Library in 1987. Working for its Music Collections she held various roles including, from 1995, Curator of Manuscript Music, and, from 2003, Head of Music Collections. She has written on Mozart, Purcell, Elgar, Vincent Novello, music publishing, film music, and Russian archives. She has been interviewed for various programmes on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4, including Tales From The Stave, the fourth series of which was broadcast earlier this year. Chris is an active member of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML) both nationally and internationally and has been closely involved with several of its projects.
She is a Trustee of the Britten-Pears Foundation and chair of its Library Committee, a Trustee of the New Berlioz Edition and of the RISM(UK) Trust, and a member of the Council of Central Music Library Limited. She sings with Londinium (whose concerts have recently included music by Scottish composers Robert Carvor and James MacMillan) and with the London Philharmonic Choir (most recently at the re-opening of the Royal Festival Hall, at St Paul's Cathedral, and at a Prom at the Royal Albert Hall). She is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce.
Chris will arrive in Aberdeen as the University embarks on the most ambitious capital project in its modern history and one of the biggest and most important cultural projects undertaken in Scotland in recent years: the creation of a new £57m library to match the institution's academic ambitions to be ranked among the top hundred universities in the world. As the centre of the University's international ambitions, the new library will be not only a new Scottish landmark of learning but also an important resource for the whole community who for the first time will enjoy access to priceless historical collections of books and manuscripts and regular events, exhibitions, readings and recitals.
The new library is the flagship project for the next phase of the organisation's Sixth Century Campaign, and Chris's role will include working with University colleagues to secure at least £30m of the total cost of the new library through the philanthropic support of graduates and supporters worldwide, charitable trusts and foundations, and the international business community.
Professor Christopher Gane, Vice-Principal (Library and Information Services), is delighted to have secured a librarian of the calibre of Chris Banks, and said: "We are delighted that Chris is joining the University at such an important time in the re-development of our library. Chris's energy, enthusiasm and experience will be immensely important as we explore new ways to deliver the very best library services to our students and academic colleagues, and to open up our collections to new audiences."
Looking forward to her new challenge, Chris Banks commented: "I'm thrilled to be joining the University of Aberdeen at this time and to have the opportunity to work with them on the new library project.
"Libraries are undergoing a considerable revolution at present with increasing emphasis on flexible buildings which facilitate everything from quiet individual study through to group and seminar work, exhibition and events and, at the heart, the facility to protect and make available the collections.
"The new building offers the opportunity to respond to this environment and, coupled with emerging technologies which can both deliver services to the desktop and to enhance the onsite visitor experience, will position the University to offer superb support to research and enable it to open up its wonderful historic collections to a much wider audience. "