22 October 2026, 15.00-16.30 China Standard Time
(7am-8.30am BST, 5pm-6.30pm AEST)
Webinar hosted by Gold Leaf, sponsored by De Gruyter Brill
The role of the librarian has changed immeasurably. Librarians today are providers and disseminators of very complex multi-medial resources – often supplied through equally complex contracts – large budget-holders, skilled negotiators and the fierce guardians of research ethics. Some are researchers themselves. Some work alongside architects and construction teams to design fabulous new libraries. Yet across the world the number of university librarians is dwindling.
Two distinguished speakers talk about the changing role of the academic librarian and forecast its future.
Speakers are:
Henian E, Library Director, Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo, China.
Simon Cootes, Manager, Collections and Discovery at University of Technology Sydney, Australia.
The webinar is sponsored by De Gruyter Brill and will be moderated by Linda Bennett of Gold Leaf. Registration is free of charge.
For more details and to book your place on the seminar, click here.
Who should attend
Academic librarians; public librarians; publishers; members of librarian support groups; members of consortia and trade associations; academics and students interested in sustainability; environmentalists.
Mr Henian E, Library Director, Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo, China, has devoted himself to higher education for the past 40 years. His academic achievements have focused on delivering renowned distance education facilities and contributing to cutting-edge academic librarianship. Staring in 2006 in the role of library director, he has played a leading part in the foundation of the libraries at three emerging universities in China – Shenzen, Sustech and Eitech. To achieve this, he has harnessed his wide experience and understanding of what constitutes a first-class university library, paying detailed attention to physical spaces, collection and management and the building of a robust and well-informed library team. The success of these three libraries has earned him wide respect in the academic library sector, both in China and internationally.
In April, Gold Leaf published Mr Henian E,’s tribute to World Book Day on this blog. The article can be found here.
Simon Cootes is the Manager, Collections and Discovery at University of Technology Sydney where they are responsible for digital and physical collections as well as the university’s research repository. Previously they oversaw collection management at Western Sydney University, including the Whitlam Prime Ministerial Library. Simon is a Classics graduate and began their career working with rare books before pivoting to eresource acquisition. Simon has since built their career over 20 years working in all aspects of collection management in academic, state and public libraries.
