M25 SpeedMeet
Welcome to M25 SpeedMeet. Every month we meet someone working in an M25 member institution and ask them to tell us a little bit about themselves.
One of the three strategic themes of the M25 Strategic Plan is connecting and collaborating through our network. Our aim is to provide a regional network whose members offer multiple perspectives that can inform decision making, and facilitate opportunities for networking and joint working on shared issues. What better way to do this than to meet?
Record it or write it
We’re keen to meet even more members so if you’d like to feature in the M25 SpeedMeet, please contact m25libadmin@london.ac.uk. You can send in your replies to our questions or alternatively video your answers and we’ll show the video here.
June 2025: Helen Curtis,
M25 Steering Group Member and M25 Annual Conference Planning Group
Who are you, where are you based and what do you do?
I’m Helen Curtis and I am Director of Learning Resources and University Librarian at Oxford Brookes University. I lead our directorate, which includes the university library, special collections and archives, and digital education and design services. I’m based in Warwickshire and I travel to our university campuses in Oxford and Swindon.
What do you most enjoy about your job?
It’s the variety of my role. As well as working with my brilliant teams in the library, special collections, and digital education, I am part of a number of cross-university groups and projects and I get to be involved in so many new and interesting initiatives. I’m currently part of a University-wide initiative looking at digital capabilities and it’s been really exciting hearing about the good practice happening around the institution and thinking about how we can bring this together as an offering.
What motivates you in your work?
I am genuinely motivated by seeing our students and staff succeed. I love seeing the amazing feedback about our staff and services and knowing that we have made a real difference to their university experience.
How has/can the M25 Consortium support you in your career?
When I became Director at Brookes in 2023 after many years working in Mercian Collaboration libraries I was keen to develop a new network across the M25. Connecting with my peers and sharing problems and ideas has always been so important in my career and the variety of libraries within the Consortium is a real benefit, helping to see how things are done elsewhere, and to learn creative solutions to challenges that we are all facing. Being a member of the Steering Group has been both personally and professionally rewarding and I would recommend taking on a role in any of our M25 groups.
What would it surprise people to know about you?
Maybe that I own very few books! I am a big believer in reading books and passing them on for others to enjoy and, of course, in borrowing books from libraries, so apart from a handful of favourites, I don’t fill my home with them. It does leave much more room on the shelves for my music collection, which is my other real passion.
Complete the sentence: If I wasn’t working in a library I would be
Probably not too far away working in our sister profession as a film archivist. After completing my film degree it was the career I was aiming for and I enjoyed some great experiences in film and media archives before being tempted from dark archive rooms to the (slightly) lighter library world. While much of my career in libraries has been all about digital advancement, I have never been more content than when I could spend my days running strips of film through the Steenbeck machine.
Read more SpeedMeet interviews here:
2025
Dan Herbert, Library Buildings Development Manager, Queen Mary, University of London
Polly Mortimer, Library Manager and Learning Support Lead, British Psychotherapy Foundation
Ian Clark, Academic Services Manager, University of East London
2024
Chris Foreman, Associate Director of Library Services at University of the Arts, London
Vicky Robertson, Deputy Librarian, UCL School of Pharmacy Library
Laura Scullion, Administrator (Events & Programmes), M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries
Dave Puplett, Associate Director, Libraries and Academic Enhancement, University of Greenwich
Fiona Ainsworth, Head of Library and Archives at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Dianne Shepherd, The British Museum, Senior Librarian
Jill Howard, M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries, Operations Manager
Cliff Van Dort, National Archives, Kew, Head of Library
Camilla Churchill, British Medical Association, Library and Archive Lead
Chloe Carson-Ashurst, The National Gallery, Library Assistant
2020-2023
Birgit Fraser, Anglia Ruskin University, Assistant Director – Academic and Content Services
Sarah Pipkin, UCL – Outreach and Exhibitions Coordinator, Special Collections Library
Anna Gillis, Royal Veterinary College – Research Support Librarian
Rachel Geeson, Anglia Ruskin University – Assistant Director, Customer Services
Jennifer Domingo, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine – Library Assistant
Emma Wisher, University of Essex – Assistant Director for User Engagement
Louise Ellis-Barrett, British Museum – Librarian Acquisitions and Projects
Paul Johnson, University of Surrey – Director of Library and Learning Services
Sara Burnett, Kingston University – Information Specialist
Robert Atkinson, Birkbeck, University of London – Director of Library Services
Laura MacCulloch, Royal Holloway, University of London – Curator
Rowan Williamson, UAL – Associate Director of Library Services and Support
Frances Willis, National Art Library at the V&A – Assistant Librarian
Robin Armstrong Viner, Courtauld Institute of Art – Head of Library Services
Adam Edwards, Middlesex University – Library Liaison Manager
Linda Coombs, Buckinghamshire New University – Library and Learning Resources Manager
Liz Pinel, Royal College of Nursing Library and Archive – Customer Services Manager
David Allen, Royal Society of Chemistry – Librarian
Russell Burke, LSHTM – Assistant Librarian
Verity Allison, St George’s, University of London – Journals and E-Resources Librarian