One of the last remaining bastions of male domination has come crumbling down as one of the oldest libraries in Europe prepares to get to grips with the demands of the 21st century.
For more than 400 years, the Bodleian library - the main research library at the University of Oxford and the second largest in the UK after the British library - has had a man at the helm. It has also never been run by anyone born outside these shores. But both of those taboos have been broken this week, with the accession of Sarah Thomas to the post of librarian. Dr Thomas has a distinguished record in the United States, where she worked at the Library of Congress in Washington DC as acting head of its Public Service Collections before moving on to oversee the 20 libraries at America's Cornell University. They won an international award for excellence in 2002. Now, as executive head of the Oxford University Library Services, with its more than 11 million printed volumes in 40 different library sites, her task is to ensure the university's fantastic collection survives the move to the new digital era unscathed.
"The challenge is to bring forward the best of traditions - which in Oxford's case includes the superb collections and the commitment to preserving the record of our civilisation for current and future scholars and students - while at the same time creatively reinterpreting these traditions for the digital age," Dr Thomas said. She added that she saw the job as "the opportunity to lead one of the world's most distinguished libraries at a time of such change in our educational institutions and society". The Bodleian's history began in 1602 after Thomas Bodley, a former fellow of Merton College, wrote to the then Vice-Chancellor of the university, offering to support the development of the library, which was going through a period of decline. He donated some of his own books to equip it.
Treasures at the Bodleian now include Shakespeare's first folio, the letters of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and the Gutenberg Bible (one of only 42 surviving complete copies worldwide). Dr Thomas' empire will also include the other major Oxford research libraries - the Sackler and Taylor for the humanities and the Radcliffe Science Library. "I am delighted that we have been able to attract such a distinguished librarian to this post," said Dr John Hood, the university's Vice-Chancellor who, as a New Zealander, broke the mould himself when he was appointed to the job as the first non-Brit to hold the post. He has been in the forefront of attempts to modernise the university - although he was defeated late last year in his attempt to overhaul the governance of the university by ensuring there was no longer a majority of academics on its governing body. He wanted a majority of business representatives and political appointees.
"Sarah Thomas' enormous experience will be vital in taking forward the work of Reg Carr (her predecessor) in leading the creation of the university's integrated library service," Dr Hood added. Dr Thomas, who has a PhD in German literature, was educated at the Graduate School of Library and Information Services at Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, before devoting herself to the library service.
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