Richard Ovenden is Head of Gardens, Libraries, & Museums (GLAM) at the University of Oxford, a post he holds together with being Bodley’s Librarian (the senior executive officer of the Bodleian Libraries), and is responsible for their strategic oversight. Richard joined the University of Oxford in 2003 from Edinburgh University, where he was Director of Collections, and has served as Keeper of Special Collections and Deputy Librarian before being appointed Bodley’s Librarian in 2014, and then Head of Gardens, Libraries, & Museums in 2022. He was awarded the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2019. He is an active researcher — his recent book Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge under Attack was shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize in 2021. He holds a Professorial Fellowship at Balliol College.
