Jo Webb (2005) – bio

Jo Webb joined Sheffield Hallam as Head of Library Learning and Teaching Support, a job-share role in Library Services, in 2019. She previously worked as an interim manager and library consultant, as well as in a range of academic library roles up to director level, at Oxford, Cranfield, De Montfort and Queen Mary University of London. Jo read Modern History at Oxford, took an MLib at Aberystwyth and an MBA at De Montfort. She is a Chartered Fellow of CILIP, the Information and Library Association, has FHEA and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).

Jo was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship on the basis of her impact on the learning community at a previous university, developing innovative and collaborative approaches to enhancing the student experience, mentoring colleagues from across the institution and her sector influence on librarians and information professionals in teaching and the support of learning.

Her professional standing can be evidenced through her work since 2016 as a Trustee of her professional body, through numerous conference papers and in her books. Jo’s first book, written with Chris Powis (NTF 2004),Teaching information skills: theory and practice (Facet, 2004), was used worldwide by practitioners and students. She and Chris have run workshops, written for publication and held conferences in the UK, as well as speaking internationally.  Another strand of interest has been in library support for research and researchers. Together with Pat Gannon-Leary and Moira Bent (NTF 2005), Jo wrote Providing effective library services for research (Facet, 2007) and several journal articles, which explored the ways researchers interact with libraries and information, and which were influential in shaping the development of research support services. She is particularly interested in research and life course analysis and runs workshops on this area.

Jo was active in university NTF and Teacher Fellow communities at previous institutions, and was involved in teaching excellence projects as an assessor and mentor, as well as leading projects on learning development, learning spaces, open access and the research student experience.

As the former leader of a converged service, Jo is interested in partnerships to reshape the student learning experience. More recently, through her role in CILIP and as Chair of school governors at a school in inner-city Leicester, this interest has extended to wider questions about the relationships between formal and informal learning opportunities, literacy and reading engagement from early years onwards, especially viewed from the lens of equality, diversity and inclusion.

Jo seeks to link theory with practical application in each area of her work.

Email: Jo.Webb@shu.ac.uk