Head of Collection Care,
The British Library
Helen Shenton is the Head of Collection Care at the British Library.
Helen Shenton became the first Head of Collection Care at the British Library in 2002. This area encompasses Conservation, Preservation, Training and Research, Collection Storage and Security. She was involved with the early developments of digital object management at the BL, co-founded the first cross-Library Digital Preservation Team and led on the Life Cycle collection management strategic strand for the BL.
Helen read English Literature at University College London and trained at the London College of Printing and with the Arts and Crafts book conservator, Roger Powell. She joined the British Library in 1998 after 14 years in the Conservation Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum where she was responsible for the textiles, paper, paintings, photography and book disciplines.
Helen is a founding Board member of the Digital Preservation Coalition and Board member of the National Preservation Office, also chairing the NPO's Preservation Administrator's Panel. She sits on a number of national and international groups, such as IFLA's Preservation and Conservation Committee, LIBER's Preservation Division, Lambeth Palace Library and UCL's Centre for Sustainable Heritage's Academic Advisory Committee.
Helen has taught and examined Masters degree courses in Conservation and Preservation, at the University of the Arts, the Royal College of Art and School of Library and Archive Studies at UCL. She has edited journals, lectured and published widely in areas such as digital preservation, national preservation strategies and developments in stewardship.
Helen is a Fellow of the International Institute of Conservation and the Royal Society of Arts.
for enquiries contact life@bl.uk
LIFE (Life Cycle Information for E-Literature) is a funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and Research Information Network (RIN) and is a collaboration between University College London (UCL) and the British Library