Since 1995, and until the recent merger of Bell College and the University of Paisley, Barbara was College Librarian at Bell College of Technology in Hamilton. She was responsible for the Hamilton and Dumfries campus libraries, a role which continues within the new merged institution. Barbara's new role is at depute librarian level, supporting and assisting the University Librarian, and new relationships and duties will undoubtedly slowly emerge. The new institution is undergoing major change and will take some time to fully integrate, but the Library experience so far augurs well for the future.

Dave joined Talis in June 2003 from SurfKitchen Inc; a Venture Capital backed wireless mobile software start-up based in Zurich and London. As Chief Technology Officer he worked with the founders and management team to refine their technology and business strategy to position the company for growth with early adopting customers, strategic partners and investors. Previously, he worked for The Sage Group plc (one of the world's leading business software providers) as CTO and before that as Research and Development Director for Sage (UK) Ltd. After joining Talis in June 2003, Dave took responsibility for the company's products, services and infrastructure before taking the role of CEO in September 2004. He leads the senior management team and as part of the executive team, is responsible for defining and communicating the company's business and technology strategy.

The ability to access and assess accurate information is crucial in the information society. SLIC is developing an Online Information Handling Skills course with SFEU, SUfI and Scottish Enterprise to develop information handling skills for post-16-year-olds. The course develops generic skills such as alphabetisation and contains five case study scenarios, including looking for a job online.

Director, Scottish Library and Information Council/CILIPS, Elaine was previously assistant director of SLIC/CILIPS, with her work focusing on the development of information and communications technology systems and services in libraries, in particular supporting the rollout of the People's Network in Scotland.

She is currently involved in developments in interoperability and access standards, developing a Scottish Cultural Portal, and encouraging cooperation and collaboration in the library and information sectors and with a number of key national agencies. Elaine's previous experience was in public libraries for a period of 20 years and she spent a short time working with an automated system supplier.

David has been the Head of Lancashire's County Library and Information Service since 1998 and has recently been appointed Acting Head of Cultural Service for Lancashire. David started his career in Cumbria in 1968 and worked in a range of posts covering children's and adult service before joining Lancashire in 1985 as an Assistant County Librarian. David served on the Society of Chief Librarians National Executive Committee and was Deputy Chair of the North West Museums Libraries and Archives Council until 2006.

David has lead teams to review Public Library Standards for the Advisory Council on Libraries and the review of Prison Library Services for Offender Learning Skills Unit, DfES. Continuing his commitment to Libraries, David is currently Director of Libraries North West, Chairs the North West Society of Chief Librarians and was recently appointed to the revised Advisory Council for Libraries. David has presented papers on public library standards and performance at UK and European conferences.

Liz manages a Charter Mark multi-disciplinary service including on-line service development, public information services, libraries and heritage services. A key role is responsibility for Corporate and Public ICT Training and the management and development of the council’s corporate web portal to 1st in Scotland and 3rd in the UK.

Liz has a track record in public and corporate information services, content management and knowledge sharing. Liz has considerable experience of organisational change in improving efficiency and in customer service and a wide experience of using teambuilding to improve direction and success of an organisation. Sound experience of questioning process changes and implementing streamlined solutions.

She is an active member of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland, a member of SOCITM - the Society of IT Managers, Member of British Institute of Learning and Development and a former member of the Scottish E-Content team.

She has held key roles with the Scottish Executive Standards Advisory Group, was an Expert Training Assessor for NOF and Scottish Representative to Society of Public Information Networks for 2 years.

Karen has worked in her present role at Talis since 2003. Previously Karen worked in a number of roles within the library service at the University of Salford, before moving to a position at Talkingtech, a Talis partner organisation who jointly developed Talis Message. Karen has over ten years experience in the library environment and has a BA (Hons) in Literature and History and a MSc in Information Management.

Jackie Smith is the Lead Consultant on the City of Edinburgh Council Programme helping them to deliver their Smart City Strategy. She has led and worked on a number of business transformation programmes, both as a management consultant and a line manager.

Martyn Wade joined the National Library of Scotland (NLS) as National Librarian 2002, after 25 years experience in the public library sector.  During this time he worked in a number of rural and urban authorities, including London Borough of Sutton, Leicestershire and Cambridgeshire, and was formerly Head of Libraries, Information and Learning with Glasgow City Council. 

Throughout his career he has taken a particular interest in developing integrated customer and citizen focused services, and under his leadership NLS has developed a reputation for innovative developments aimed at widening access to the Library’s collections, expertise and services.  In particular, the library is exploring the use of partnerships and technology to enable new audiences to enjoy, learn and benefit from the Library’s rich and unique resources.

In July 2005, Gillian Anderson became the first Librarian of the UHI Millennium Institute, a distributed, federal Higher Educational Institution of over 6,000 students who receive their academic delivery and support through the network of UHI’s 15 Academic Partners located across the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, following a brief spell as User Services Director, University of East Anglia. Prior to this she had twelve years experience in charge of lending Services, University of Wales Bangor and developing her interest in widening access and improving customer experience.

Gillian is charged with leading the development of a university-standard library service through the existing academic partner library services. Her presentation will give a flavour of the scale and challenges of helping create the University of the Highlands and Islands.

Francesca Brennan

Teenage Librarian, Sighthill Library

Francesca Brennan has been working as Teenage Library Officer within the Youth Services department of Edinburgh City Libraries and Information Services since May 2006. She is responsible for the development of services to teenagers and has been directly involved in delivering the Sighthill Library Youth Project over the past year. Francesca’s reader development work with young people in Sighthill has been a natural progression from previous posts in a further education library, a school library and in a school and public library resource unit.

John Dempster

Senior Librarian, Systems Co-ordinator, Highland Council

John Dempster is the Highland Council Library Service’s Systems Co-ordinator. He has worked for Highland Libraries since 1992, and has led the team responsible for managing Talis since 1998. Highland Libraries currently use eight self-issue machines purchased from 2CQR, six of them installed through a project funded by the Scottish Executive’s Public Library Improvement Fund 2006-07.

Alison Hunter

Principal Libraries Officer, East Lothian Library Services

Alison Hunter has been Principal Libraries Officer with East Lothian Council for just over 3 years. She has been heavily involved in the smartcard initiative chairing the former SCASC library working group and is currently a member of the National Smartcard Board for Libraries.

She is also a board member of the Scottish Library Information Council. Prior to her current post she managed the Library Service in Shetland for almost 2 years. Her career has spanned a variety of posts including school librarian, managing a branch library, driving a mobile library and being a children’s librarian.

Sally Joice

Support Services Librarian, Fife Council Libraries

Sally has lived in Scotland since 1985. She worked for the library service in Dumbarton District Council and then, without moving at all, started to work for Argyll & Bute as a consequence of local government reorganisation. Sally has worked for Fife Council Libraries Support Services since 2000. She has particular responsibility for the Acquisitions Universe in Talis. In 2007 she took on the project management of Duloch Library – a brand new facility, part of Fife’s PPP programme. The library is on the schools and community campus in the rapidly expanding east of Dunfermline. Opening date is 20 August 2007.

Andy Kerr

The Shadow Minister for Health and Community Care

As someone born and brought up in East Kilbride, Andy considers it a great honour to be its first representative in our new Scottish Parliament. He was brought up in The Murray where his mum still lives, and was educated at Murray Primary and then at Claremont High School. He then studied at Glasgow College, now Caledonian University.

Prior to becoming a member of the Scottish Parliament, Andy was a senior officer in Glasgow City Council. During his time on the Council he was responsible for the development of strategy, business planning, performance management and best value. He successfully managed the introduction of the quality standard ISO 9000 and took forward the implementation of the environmental standard ISO 14001 in the Land Services Department. He was active in the Association of Public Service Excellence and was the Managing Director of "Achieving Quality" a consultancy aimed at promoting quality assurance in the public sector.

On entering the Parliament, he was appointed as the Convenor of the Transport and Environment Committee, prior to becoming the Minister for Finance and Public Services from November 2001 to October 2004 and then the shadow Minister for Health and Community Care.

Andy Latham

Programme Manager, Talis

Andy joined Talis in August 2004 as a Senior SoftwareDeveloper from Morse Group plc, a leading European technology supplier. After receiving an honours degree in Computer Science from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Andy has been developing enterprise-scale J2EE applications for large clients in the telecommunications, banking and legal sectors on technologies from Sun, IBM and Oracle. Andy is a Sun Certified Java Programmer and is currently working towards Sun Certified Enterprise Architect and Certified SCRUM Master. As a Technical Lead and Programme Manager at Talis, Andy is currently leading the technical aspects of Talis' institutional integration initiatives.

Paul Miller

Technology Evangelist, Talis

Paul joined Talis in September 2005 from the Common Information Environment (CIE), where as Director he was instrumental in scoping policy and attracting new members such as the BBC, National Library of Scotland and English Heritage to this group of UK public sector organisations. Previously, Paul was at UKOLN where he was active in a range of cross-domain standardisation and advocacy activities, and prior to this he was Collections Manager at the Archaeology Data Service. At Talis, Paul is exploring new models of collaboration and identifying further areas in which our technology or knowledge would be of value. Paul has a Doctorate in Archaeology from the University of York.

Dan Mullineux

Technical Lead, Talis

Dan joined Talis in November 2004, from Instron, the worlds largest materials test company, running a team developing web services to remotely test Formula One cars. Prior to that Dan founded two small software and hardware companies specialising in scientific measurement and 2D and 3D image recognition. Since graduating with honours in a BEng from the University of Queensland in 1991, Dan has worked as a consultant on diverse client-server, system integration, and automation and control applications for customers around the world, including Hong Kong, Poland, India and the World Bank.