At the British Library (BL), Rob Smith is the new Head of Digital Operations Business Change. Rob joins the BL from the Home Office. Nick Townend, who was Head of Digital Operations at BL for the past two years, developing operational capability in advance of the expected changes to Legal Deposit legislation in 2013, moved to Emerald Publishing in September.

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Board of Directors appointed Dr Elliott Shore as Executive Director of the Association. Elliott, who is currently Chief Information Officer, Constance A Jones Director of Libraries, and Professor of History at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, takes up his position at ARL at the beginning of January 2013.

Jeremy Upton, Deputy Director of St Andrews University Library, became Chair of the SCOPNet Periodicals Group in June, taking on the post from Tony Kidd who retired in July. SCOPNet is the procurement activity for the Scottish Confederation of University and Research Libraries (SCURL).

Derek Law, Emeritus Professor at Strathclyde University, who chairs the Board of the charity, Electronic Publishing Trust for Development, has recently been appointed a Trustee of Partnerships in Health Information(Phi). Phi works closely with the pan African NGO, the Information Training & Outreach Centre for Africa (ITOCA) based in Centurion, South Africa, the Association of Health Information and Libraries in Africa (AHILA) and many other partners in the UK and in Africa to build capacity for strengthening health information systems.

At Aberystwyth University Library, Julie Hart took up the post of Assistant Director: Library Services in March this year. Julie, who has been at Aberystwyth for four years, was previously Library Resources Manager. After 20 years at the University Library, Sandra Morris retired at the end of July as Electronic Information Development Officer Collections and Resources Management. Sandra was well known in the information community for her considerable contributions through the UKSG's open list, lis-e-resources. Tom Francis, formerly Serials Acquisitions Deputy Team Leader at the library, has taken over Sandra's responsibilities and is now E-Resources and Serials Co-ordinator at Aberystwyth.

At the beginning of July, Kate Robinson was appointed as University Librarian at the University of Bath. Kate was formerly Head of Academic Services at the University Library, which she joined in 1998. Kate replaced Howard Nicholson, who had been University Librarian at Bath for 20 years. Howard, who had previously worked as a Sub-Librarian at the London School of Economics and as an Assistant Librarian at the University of Sussex, served on SCONUL committees concerned with library buildings, service quality and copyright.

At the University of California, Davis, MacKenzie Smith took up her post as University Librarian at the beginning of June. MacKenzie was previously Research Director at the MIT Libraries, where she oversaw digital library research and development. From 2002 until 2011, she was the Library's Associate Director for Technology at MIT and the Library's project director for DSpace, MIT's collaboration with Hewlett- Packard Labs to develop an open source digital repository for scholarly research material in digital formats.

At Cambridge University Library, CARET, the University's Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies, is merging with the University's Electronic Services and Systems Division to form the Digital Services Division headed by John Norman, Director of CARET. Lesley Gray, libraries@cambridge administrator, is taking on a new role with the Digital Services Division. For the previous six years, Lesley managed the University's Journals Co-ordination Scheme. At the beginning of September, David Wills and Jo Farrant took over responsibility for managing the University of Cambridge Journals Co-ordination Scheme. David is also Head of the Squire Law Library. Jo is Head of Acquisitions Administration at the main University Library.

Also at Cambridge, Patricia Killiard took up the post of Head of Collection Development and Description at the beginning of August following Hugh Taylor's retirement. Patricia was previously Head of Electronic Services and Systems at the Library and the new post unites Patricia's previous responsibility for electronic collections with responsibility for modern print collections. Hugh had two spells at the University Library, first as music librarian and then, for the past 22 years he was Head of Cataloguing, a post which became Head of Collection Development and Description.

Friends and colleagues were shocked and saddened by the unexpected death of Morag Watson, Digital Library Development Manager in Library & Collections, on 9 September. Morag joined the University of Edinburgh as Systems Librarian in 1995, successfully implementing the Geac library system and its successor, Voyager. Morag played a key role in the formation of what eventually became the Scottish Digital Library Consortium (SDLC), and was well known and respected across the information community in the UK, Europe and USA. At Edinburgh, Morag was instrumental in the introduction of a wide range of resource discovery and repository systems which transformed library services. At the heart of her vision for the future of the library service was Morag's strong user perspective – always ensuring that services were relevant to the users' needs. Morag is especially remembered for being great company, with a fantastic wit and humour, and her death leaves a great gap in her friends' lives.

Deborah Shorley retires as Director of Library Services at Imperial College, London in December. Debby took up her current post in October 2007, joining Imperial from the University of Sussex, where she had been Librarian since 2000. Before that, her entire professional career had been in Northern Ireland, latterly as Assistant Director of Information Services at the University of Ulster. Debby has always been an active member of her profession, frequently contributing to national and international conferences and in 1998 was awarded the Library Association's Charter Centenary Medal. From 2005–2006 she was President of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP).

Ruth Stubbings took up the post of Deputy University Librarian: Information Resources & Planning at Nottingham Trent University in September. She was previously Head of Academic Services at Loughborough University, where she had been since 1999. Ruth is Chair of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Information Literacy, and Deputy Chair of the CILIP CSG Information Literacy Group.

At Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, three section heads have been appointed within the new Information Services Directorate, which is the converged Library and IT departments. Iain Young became Head of Resource and Facility Services in August. Iain was previously Library Resources Manager at Heriot-Watt, managing the acquisition, description and delivery of print and e-resources, making them accessible to support research, learning and teaching across the University. He now has responsibility for managing the Library's financial resources, and contributing to library strategy and policy making. Iain was previously Librarian at the Scottish Poetry Library and Assistant Librarian at the Faculty of Advocates.

In September, Wendy Pirie joined the University as Head of Academic and Learner Services. Wendy had held several posts at the University of Aberdeen, including Acting University Librarian and Library Services Manager during the period when IT and Library support services were brought together. Wendy was responsible for administration and planning during the planning, development and fit-out of Aberdeen's recently opened new Library building.

Also in September, Mark Cockshoot joined as Head of Information Infrastructure Services. Previously, Mark was Assistant Director of IT Services at the University of Reading, with responsibility for IT infrastructure and facilities and before that, Mark worked at the University of Manchester.

In July, Eve Dick retired after 36 years at the Heriot-Watt University Library where she was responsible for procurement of books, periodicals equipment and supplies and maintenance of financial records in the Resources Department. Eve was Principal Library Assistant – Acquisitions.

Dawn Lindsay joined National Museums Scotland (NMS) in September as Information/Knowledge Manager responsible for information and records management, FOI requests and development of the NMS intranet. Dawn was previously campus Librarian at the Scottish Agricultural College in Edinburgh from 2008. At NMS, Dawn replaces Helen Finlay, who left the organization in June.

At the end of August, Dick Chamberlain retired as Head of Collection & Access Management at the University of Nottingham. Dick had worked as a librarian at Nottingham since 1976. For much of that time he was responsible for selection, implementation and management of Library Systems – including those installed at the University's China and Malaysia campuses. As Head of Collection and Access Management, Dick combined the Systems role with management of the Acquisition, Cataloguing and Repository functions.

In August, Lucy Reid moved to the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust as Head of Library and eLearning Services in the Education and Training Department and is based in the Library at Lambeth Hospital. Lucy was at the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists from 2002 to 2012, first as Head of Information Services and then, following a restructure, as Director of Knowledge Management.

Stephen Pinfield has now moved to the University of Sheffield as Senior Lecturer in Library and Information Management. Stephen was previously Chief Information Officer at the University of Nottingham, where he had been for 13 years.

At the end of July, Lynne Dean took voluntary severance from Stranmillis University College in Belfast after more than 30 years in the Library. Lynne was Associate Librarian with special responsibilities for Acquisitions. John Erskine has been Head of Library and Learning Resources at Stranmillis since 2009.

At the University of Strathclyde, Dilys Young took up the post of Librarian and Assistant Director of Information Services in September. She was previously Head of Academic Library Services at the University of Northumbria, where she moved in March 2009 after spending five years at Leeds Metropolitan University as Service Development Manager within Libraries and Learning Innovation. Dilys succeeds Michael Roberts, who had been at Strathclyde since 1985 in various roles including Head of the Acquisitions Division, Deputy Director of Library Services and then Acting Director, before becoming Librarian and Assistant Director in a converged Information Services Directorate in 2010.

Also at Strathclyde, Acquisitions Manager Janet Peattie is taking early retirement at the end of October after four years in her current post. Pamela McClelland, who has been Deputy Head of Acquisitions since joining the library in January 2009 from Oxford Brookes, will succeed Janet as the new Acquisitions Manager at Strathclyde.

Linda Beebe, Senior Director, PsycINFO, is due to retire in December after nearly 13 years at the American Psychological Association. Linda directs the development and production of electronic databases. She previously was President of Parachute Publishing, a consulting firm, and before that was Associate Executive Director for Communications for the National Association of Social Workers. Linda is a frequent industry speaker, is the current Chair/President of CrossRef, Past-President of The National Federation of Advanced Information Services (NFAIS) and currently Co-Chair of the NISO-NFAIS Working Group on Supplemental Journal Materials.

In July, Gareth Bish joined Alexander Street Press as Sales Manager, UK & Ireland. Gareth has more than 12 years' experience in online publishing gained in a number of management and business development roles across the Library Reference and Higher Education divisions of Gale Cengage before joining Semantico, a digital publishing solutions company, supporting online academic, STM and reference publishers.

Cengage Learning appointed Julian Drinkall as President of Europe, Middle East, Africa and India Regions at the end of September. Julian joined Cengage from OC&C Strategy Consultants and was previously CEO of Macmillan Education. He has replaced Jill Jones, who stepped down in July this year.

In September, Nick Townend joined Emerald Group Publishing as Programme Manager. Emerald's Digital Transformation Programme is an initial two-year initiative which covers all aspects of digital technologies, standards, workflows and communications and seeks to enable the company to operate, compete and develop in a digitally connected world. For the previous two years, Nick was Head of Digital Operations at the British Library where he lead on the successful development and implementation of effective, large-scale processes and software developments for the Library's digital processing capability.

Gavin Lewis joined Infotrieve in August as Sales Manager, Europe. Gavin was previously Business Solutions Manager at Swets where, since 2006, he had headed the sales team focused on the corporate market.

At Ingram Content Group, Shawn Morin became Chief Operating Officer in June. Shawn joined the company in 2009 and had served as the Chief Information Officer since that time. As COO, Shawn is now in charge of managing the company's commercial activities, systems and operations, including leading Ingram's divisions that serve publishers, libraries, booksellers and educators worldwide. Before moving to Ingram, Shawn had served as CIO and Vice President of Information Technology at Bass Pro Shops.

At the end of August, Kim Massana was appointed Chief Executive Officer at Innovative Interfaces, Inc. Kim was formerly President of Thomson Reuters Elite, which he joined as Senior Vice President of Strategic Marketing and International in 2008 from Sweet & Maxwell where he was Director, Sales and Marketing. Jerry Kline continues as Chairman, Innovative Interfaces, and Neil Block as President.

In the UK, LM recruited David Gardner (pictured) as Sales Manager to focus on the Corporate/Specialist library clients. David, who has a publishing background, joined LM in early Summer.

In May, Scope eKnowledge Center (Scope), appointed Richard Kobel as Associate Vice President, Business Development for the North America region. Rich, who has more than 20 years' experience working in the STM publishing market, having worked previously at Cenveo, the American Institute of Physics and Nature, is responsible for building commercial relationships with publishers and other information providers in North America.

Barry Dunne joined the Semantico team as Business Development Director, Journals in June this year. Barry is an industry professional with experience in directing global accounts for STM publishers.

In September, Robin Dyer joined Swets as Global Marketing Director, where his responsibilities include managing the company's global marketing activities and providing support for the group's commercial functions. For the previous seven years, Robin was at Dolby Laboratories where he was responsible for the Sales and Marketing of Dolby's licensing technologies across EMEA, that are integrated into a wide range of consumer products. Prior to Dolby, Robin completed a successful career as a European Product Marketing manager at Dell Computers, has held various Product Manager and manufacturing roles, along with ten years at Philips Business Systems.

In June, Hugh Chatterton joined NEC and Thomas Telford Training at Thomas Telford Ltd as Sales Manager responsible for developing and managing sales of the companies' product portfolio including enterprise licences, subscription products, in-house training and project support services worldwide. For the previous seven-and-a-half years, Hugh had been at Swets, first as Publisher Relations Manager UK & Ireland and for over five years as Publisher Relations Team Leader.