Responsibilities:
Michelle is the Library Services Director at Hull Culture and Leisure Ltd. Hull Culture and Leisure is a wholly owned company of Hull City Council created to sustain and develop the services it manages, on behalf of the Council. Michelle has a wide range of responsibilities within the company including the strategic development and operational delivery of Hull’s public library services, Schools’ Library Services, HMP Prison Library Service and services to the vulnerable and housebound. Michelle is also the company lead for apprenticeships and training and the development and delivery of learning and volunteering opportunities for residents and customers. In addition Michelle is also the company lead for company-wide functions such as GDPR, IT and Website development, and such like. She represents Hull on a number of groups at a regional and national level, including the Business and Intellectual Property Centre strategic development group. She also represents the region on national public library bodies and takes the lead on some national library initiatives.
Background:
Michelle has worked for Hull City Council, and previously Humberside County Council, since 1980. She undertook her bachelor’s degree in Library and Information Science at Leeds Polytechnic whilst working full-time for Hull’s Library Service in a variety of posts, including the various departments of the Central Library, school and community libraries and the postgraduate medical library. After qualifying as a librarian she worked in many different areas of the Library Service developing and delivering services to meet the needs of local people before moving into managerial roles. She successfully completed the Executive MBA at the University of Hull in 2011 and has worked with her team to ensure local people have access to some of the best library services in the country, with Hull often used as an example of good practice. Michelle was awarded a B.E.M. in the Queen’s birthday honours in 2020 for services to public libraries and community.