Speakers

Roly Keating

CEO, British Library

Roly has been CEO of the British Library since 2012.

Key developments in his tenure include the launch of Living Knowledge, a new vision and strategy for the Library’s growth towards its 50th anniversary in 2023; new partnerships with public libraries across the UK, including the successful Business & IP Centre network; major international projects including the British Library in China programme; the creation and launch of the Knowledge Quarter, a partnership of over 100 knowledge-based organisations around the Library’s London HQ; the growth of the Library’s cultural and learning programmes, including popular landmark exhibitions such as Magna Carta, Harry Potter: A History of Magic and Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms; and a groundbreaking on-site partnership with the Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national centre for data science and artificial intelligence.

Roly joined the Library after a long and successful career as a programme-maker and broadcasting executive at the BBC, where he launched BBC Four in 2002 before moving on to become Controller of BBC Two and Director of Archive Content, with editorial oversight of the BBC’s online services including BBC iPlayer.

Roly is a member of the board of Channel 4 and a Trustee of the Clore Leadership Programme. He chairs the Conference of European National Librarians and the Steering Committee for the 5-year AHRC-funded research programme Towards a National Collection. Roly holds Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Lincoln, Warwick and York.