Sir Roly Keating to step down as chief executive of the British Library

The British Library has announced that Sir Roly Keating will be stepping down as chief executive in April 2025, after 12 years in the role. The board has begun the process of recruiting his successor. 

“The years I have served here have seen great achievements as well as times of challenge, including a global pandemic and a major cyber attack,” he said. “Over the next 12 months my priority is to ensure that our recovery programme succeeds in its goal of leaving the library even stronger and more resilient than it was before – able to serve new communities and new generations of users, and to continue to be a national library that is truly for everyone.”

Keating’s tenure has seen the establishment of various new partnerships, including the Business and IP Centre National Network to support small business owners, and the Living Knowledge Network of public and national libraries across the UK. Moreover, digital initiatives have included Save Our Sounds – aimed at digitising and preserving the UK’s audio heritage – and the Living with Machines research programme with the Alan Turing Institute. 

The chief executive has also initiated a programme of capital developments, one of which was the renewal of the library’s campus in Boston Spa, Yorkshire. Most recently, he led the library’s response to the cyberattack that took place in October. 

“Sir Roly Keating has shown fantastic leadership at the British Library over the past 12 years,” commented culture secretary Lucy Frazer. “He has grown its presence across the UK and around the world, expertly overseen major projects, guided it through the pandemic and more recently overseen its continuing recovery from a major cyber attack, as well as celebrating its 50th anniversary last year.” 

Dame Carol Black, chair of the British Library Board, added: “Roly’s clear-sighted and compassionate leadership has helped the library to steer a steady course of growth and engagement through often turbulent times. As well as presiding over a massive expansion of our digital collecting, he has also overseen a transformation in our public engagement programmes – both online and on-site – and set in motion the next phase of the long-term development of our sites at St Pancras and Boston Spa, along with steps towards a permanent presence in Leeds City Centre.” 

Keating was appointed chief executive in 2012, succeeding Dame Lynne Brindley. Prior to that, he had a career as a programme-maker and broadcasting executive at the BBC, where he launched BBC Four and served as controller of BBC Two and director of archive content. 

He is a trustee of the Clore Leadership Programme and a former board member of Channel 4 and the Barbican Arts Centre, and chairs the Steering Committee for the five-year AHRC-funded research programme Towards a National Collection. In 2023, he received a knighthood for services to literature in the New Year Honours List, and appointed Chevalier des Arts et Lettres by the French government.