KEYNOTE
SPEAKERS
We are delighted to welcome an outstanding line-up of keynote speakers who are shaping the future of their fields through innovation, leadership, and ground-breaking ideas.
Amina Shah, National Library of Scotland
Whose Story is it Anyway? Authenticity and Written and Recorded Memory
Wednesday, 5th August; 10:45am - 11:45am
Amina Shah, FRSE FRSA is the National Librarian and Chief Executive of the National Library of Scotland. She has 30 years’ experience across the library and literature sector, including both public and academic libraries.
She has held a wide range of non-exec roles in HE and the cultural sector and is a Visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde and Robert Gordons University.
Amina has a strong interest in the role libraries, literature and culture play in empowering individuals and communities and supporting democracy.
Tony King, Durham University
Words Are Our Tools: Authenticity in Archive Conservation
Thursday, 6 August; 9:30am - 10:35am
Tony is Senior Manager for Conservation and Collections Care at Durham University. Based at Palace Green Library, his team are responsible for preservation across the University’s varied museum, archive and library collections. He is an Icon Accredited Conservator specialising in archive and library materials with a particular interest in historical bookbinding practices.
Having trained at Camberwell College and undertaken the ARA Archive Conservation Training Scheme, Tony has worked as a Conservator for both Essex and Cumbria County Councils before joining Durham University in 2020.
Elizabeth Shepherd, ARA
Authentic Voices: Restoring the History of Women in the Archives
Friday, 7 August 9:30am - 10:35am
Dr Elizabeth Shepherd is President of ARA from 2024 to 2027.
She is Professor Emerita at UCL in the Department of Information Studies. Her research interests include information rights for care-experienced adults (MIRRA project). Her monograph, Pioneering Women Archivists in Early 20th-Century England, was published by Routledge in 2025.