Bob McKee has been a leading figure in the library and information community, in the UK and internationally, for many years.
For the past eleven years Bob has been Chief Executive of the UK’s national professional association helping to bring together librarians and information scientists in CILIP, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.
For the previous eleven years, from 1988 to 1999, Bob was a Chief Officer in municipal local government in England working for Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council. As Director of Libraries and Arts he was responsible for public library service, cultural provision, and sports and leisure facilities within the Borough. Promoted to Assistant Chief Executive, he became responsible for economic development, policy coordination and community partnerships across the Borough.
Before moving into senior management Bob taught at the School of Library and Information Studies at Birmingham Polytechnic (now Birmingham City University) in England specialising in leadership and management, the role of the library in society, and the impact of information technology on library provision. In his early career Bob worked in community libraries, in school and college libraries, and in early applications of online technology to education and to information provision.
For the past 21 years Bob has been an adviser to national and local government on library services, serving on a succession of public bodies in the UK including the Library and Information Commission, the Advisory Council on Libraries, and MLA, the Museums Libraries and Archives Council. He has also been a frequent speaker and writer on library matters in the UK and is currently Visiting Professor of Information and Learning Services at the University of Worcester where he is working on the value and impact of libraries in the context of the new Worcester Library and History Centre designed to offer integrated academic and public library provision and due to open in 2012.
Internationally, Bob has been active in IFLA, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, for many years with a particular involvement in IFLA-FAIFE which leads IFLA’s work on freedom of access to information and freedom of expression. He has also served on IFLA’s Governing Board and Executive Committee, and is currently helping to develop IFLA’s Building Stronger Library Associations programme supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and intended to strengthen the professional library and information infrastructure in developing countries.
Bob is frequently asked to give presentations and chair sessions at international library and information conferences. He has spoken at international events across Europe and North America and in South America, South Africa, and the Republic of South Korea.
Bob is a graduate of Oxford University with a Doctorate in literary studies from the University of Birmingham. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In his leisure time Bob is a keen follower of football, rugby and cricket, and enjoys spending time with family and in the convivial company of friends.
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