INTERVIEW
Leadership, community and the power of storytelling
AMINA Shah was appointed National Librarian and Chief Executive of the National Library of Scotland in 2022, coming into the role at a time of social change – from the impact of Covid and Brexit to the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement and culture wars. As the head of Scotland’s National Library, Amina is conscious of how these changes need to be refl ected in the way the library reaches its community. Here she talks to Rob Green about leader- ship, community, and engagement.
AMINA began her life in libraries shortly after graduating from uni- versity, with a degree in English. She took a job at Strathclyde University Library as a Library Assistant, before embarking on a library qualifi cation and then a post with the Mitchell Library in Glasgow.
Looking back on her career since that
fi rst appointment, Amina admits that she never had a “grand plan”, and certainly leading Scotland’s National Library wasn’t in her mind back then. However, dig a little deeper into her experience and attitude and it is not surprising that she is where she is, despite (in her own words) having “abso- lutely no idea how I got to where I am”. From the start of her career (and even before), Amina has been keen to get involved in outside activities – volunteering, board roles and other opportunities that have come her way. When she embarked on her Chartership in 1997, while working at the Mitchell Library, she volunteered at the Glasgow Women’s Library, which “at the time it was just a small library above a shop – of course it is now this amazing collection, with a wonderful reputation, but then it was right at the start of the journey and I volun- teered there for a while.”
Even before that she would be involved in 20 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
Rob Green (
rob.green@
cilip.org.uk) is Editor, Information Professional.
volunteer work, looking for opportunities while still at school. She says this has been driven by curiosity, adding: “I have just taken the plunge on things, with no expec- tation, and some wonderful things have happened. I never set out with a plan.” Looking back now she can see how that desire to broaden her experience whenever possible has allowed her career to develop, despite not being part of a “grand plan”. She says: “I am passionate about these things and it’s never something I’ve consid- ered as part of my career. It’s because I’m
March 2023
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