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?
In past months, we’ve met the Senior Librarian at the British Museum, Library Assistants at the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and The National Gallery, a Research Support Librarian at the Royal Veterinary College and the Director of Library and Learning Services at the University of Surrey.
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.
July 2024: Fiona Ainsworth
Who are you, where are you based and what do you do?
Hello, I am Fiona Ainsworth, Head of Library and Archives at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
I am responsible for the paper-based collections of RBG Kew, which comprise the library, illustrations and archives. Our collections span 700 years of knowledge about plants and fungi, with our oldest item (a manuscript about natural history) dating to ~1370. In total we hold about 7.6 million items or 10km of linear shelving. Library and Archives complements Kew’s other collections which include the Herbarium and Fungarium (7 million dried plant and 1.25 million fungal specimens respectively), the Economic Botany Collection (of 100,000 objects made from plants or fungi) and of course the ~22,000 species growing in the gardens!
What do you most enjoy about your job?
As well as the amazing gardens and my colleagues, the wonderful depth and breadth of our collections which date back hundreds of years but still remain scientifically important.
What motivates you in your work?
Knowing that the work we do today in curating our library, illustrations and archives collections will be useful to researchers in the future, hopefully hundreds of years in the future.
How has/can the M25 Consortium support you in your career?
As well as colleagues from institutions similar to Kew, M25 gives me the chance to meet with peers working in the academic sector and I really value the opportunity to get their different perspectives. I also appreciate that the training events on offer are aimed at different career stages, from those very new to those at senior levels.
What would it surprise people to know about you?
I love Jane Austen’s books and have been a member of the Jane Austen Society for more than 30 years (https://janeaustensociety.org.uk/). I’ve served on the committee for almost as long!
Complete the sentence: If I wasn’t working in a library I would be…because…
My ideal answer is: retired! Because I’ve got lots of things I want to do besides work.
In the spirit of the question though, I guess my answer would be working in a people facing role in a museum or perhaps running my own secondhand book shop (I have far too many books).
Fiona Ainsworth, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, July 2024
Read more SpeedMeet interviews here:
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
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