David Baker

David Baker was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in 1952. His first love was the church organ, which he began playing from the age of 12. By the time that he was 16, he was an Associate of the Royal College of Organists. He gained his Fellowship the following year. In 1970 he was elected Organ Scholar of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, graduating with a First Class Honours degree in Music three years’ later. He took an MMus degree from King’s College, London in 1974. He then moved into Library and Information Services, taking a Master of Library Studies degree in 1976 and a PhD in 1988. Both of these degrees were from Loughborough University. After a number of library posts at Nottingham, Leicester and Hull Universities and a lecturing role at Loughborough, he became Chief Librarian of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, in 1985. He was promoted to Director of Information Strategy and Services in 1995, and Pro-Vice-Chancellor in 1997. He became Principal of University College Plymouth St Mark & St John (UCP Marjon) in July 2003 and, in addition, was appointed Professor of Strategic Information Management there in July 2006.

David Baker has published widely in the field of Library and Information Studies, with thirteen monographs and some 100 articles to his credit. He has spoken at numerous conferences, led workshops and seminars and has undertaken consultancy work in most countries in the European Union, along with work in Bulgaria, Slovenia, Ethiopia, Kuwait, Nigeria and the Sudan. In recent years, his particular professional interest has been in the strategic management of technology. He gained an MBA degree from the Open University in this subject area in 2002. He is a member of the Board of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and chairs its Content Services Committee, also having led a number of large technology-based projects in the LIS sector, both in relation to digital and hybrid library development and content creation for teaching and learning. His other key professional interest and expertise has been in the field of human resources, where he has been active in major national projects. When not working he enjoys watching cricket, walking, archaeology, history, creative writing and music – both as listener and performer.