Mary Pickstone (Chair)
Mary Pickstone, Group Chair, is Manager of the Alsager Library of Manchester Metropolitan University, juggling the diverse information needs of students in Exercise and Sport Science and those in Performing Arts.
Mary spent several years on UC&R's national committee, latterly as Conference Secretary organising successful conferences in Edinburgh (2000) and Bath (2002) before retreating back to the region to help re-form the North West group of UC&R in 2003.
Shirley Ward (Treasurer)
Shirley Ward is currently Subject Team Leader and Art & Design Librarian at the University of Bolton. She is responsible for managing the team of subject librarians, co-ordinating liaison with academics and students, the induction process, and the university's Information Literacy skills training.
She manages the library collection in Art & Design subjects and teaches study and research skills to students in these areas.
Her main interests are study skills, information skills and information literacy in higher education
She is also a university Learning and Teaching Fellow, has written the university's Information Literacy policy and is the university 'lead' in this area.
Shirley was a founder member of the ‘reformed’ North West group of UC&R, and holds the office of Treasurer.
Dawn Grundy (Secretary)
Dawn has been a part of UC&R since 2006; she started her time on the group as the student representative, after being a speaker at a branch event. She was Web Editor between 2007-2011 and has been Branch Secretary since 2009. Dawn has worked at the University of Bolton since 1996, after a short stint at John Rylands University Library of Manchester.
Her current role is Subject Librarian for Health, Early Years and Community Studies. Her professional interests include user feedback and service quality (particularly Customer Service Excellence).
Louise Minta (Web Editor)
Louise Minta is the Librarian at Millennium Library, Bury College, where she is responsible for academic liaison and supporting students across a wide variety of A-level and BTEC courses. She completed her MSc Information Studies in 2004 and successfully Chartered in 2007. Her professional interests include study skills and the use of e-resources in FE/HE.
Other Committee Members:
Leo Appleton
Leo Appleton is the Planning and Business Manager for Learning and Information Services at Liverpool John Moores University. He has previously worked in libraries and learning resources at a number of Further and Higher Education Institutions. He is secretary of Cilip's MmIT group and has been an active member of CoFHE North West before joining UC&R North West.
Karen Backhouse
Karen joined the UC&R North West group committee after gaining a sponsored place to attend the Umbrella Conference 2011. She completed her MA Information and Library Management at Liverpool John Moores University in 2008 and her first professional post was as Project Librarian at Liverpool Hope University’s Sheppard-Worlock Library. Her current role at Hope is Special Collections Cataloguer and her professional interests include the cataloguing of special collections in higher education and the care and preservation of rare books. She is also a member of the Merseyside Archives Liaison Group (MALG).
John Hilton
Born in Bury, but brought up in Peru, John is a Bibliographic Services Librarian at the University of Liverpool's Sydney Jones Library, where he also works as a Reference Librarian. He completed his MA in Information & Library Management at Liverpool John Moores University in 2001, and is currently working towards his CILIP Chartership.
Sarah Mallen
Currently Information Manager at University of Manchester Careers and Employability Division. Managing information provision & the enquiry & appointments service. Sarah completed her PgDip at MMU in 1996. Her first professional post was as a solo librarian at a sixth form college in Salford, chartering in 1998. She is currently involved in training for information staff for AGCAS (the professional body for HE careers staff) and CPD within her own department.
Jane Marshall
Jane is a Faculty Team Librarian at Manchester Business School Library Service, part of the John Rylands University Library at the University of Manchester.
Jane supports the learning and teaching for around 3,000 distance learning students on the Global MBA programme, as well as the full time MBA programme and the School's executive education programmes - short open and customised business and management programmes for business leaders. She is currently the NW regional representative on the UC&R National Committee.
Catherine Scutt
Catherine is Education Faculty Librarian (Postgraduate and Research) at Liverpool Hope University. Originally from the North West, Catherine joined Liverpool Hope in 2006 following seven years experience working at the University of Oxford. This included studying for her Msc Information Science at City University, London, completed in 2004. She gained her Chartership in 2009. Her professional interests include information literacy, bibliographic standards and metadata, and the effective support of researchers.