Gloucestershire Libraries Advisory Board

Emily was appointed to the new Gloucestershire Advisory Board as Interim Chair in March 2023. She is a career civil servant who brings a breadth of leadership and board experience. This is her first advisory board position.

She was fortunate to grow up in a family, school, and community where the arts and culture were rich and diverse which fostered in her a life-long love of both. She is also a mum to two primary age children which has made her even more passionate about early year learning and instilling a love and curiosity of reading, music, and the arts.

Emily believes Gloucestershire Libraries 5-year plan combined with this significant investment from the Arts council is a fantastic opportunity to deliver some new innovative and creative services to a wide variety of communities and hopes that she can help ensure this investment secures these vital services and outreach for future generations.

Aidan is originally from New Zealand, where he grew up in a rural area. From his own experience, he has seen the positive influence libraries and their staff had on his development and ongoing education. He strongly supports libraries for their varied educational and social roles.

Aidan spent 10 years working in the New Zealand civil service managing the delivery of government financial and policy functions. He relocated to the UK with his wife and dog in 2019 and since then has worked in the healthcare and social housing sectors. While working in the NHS he managed regional projects related to NHS 111 and the initial rollout of Covid-19 vaccinations for vulnerable patients and key workers. He currently works in the social housing sector and leads technology projects that support residents and staff.

Aidan has previously held voluntary roles as the secretary of a community band charity, a trustee for a multi-academy trust, and a member of an academy intervention board. He enjoys playing music, exploring new cities, and country walks with his wife and dog.

Kate McStraw is an independent Creative Producer with a wealth of experience spanning over 10 years in the arts and cultural sector. Specialising in accessible arts practice, she is an advocate for inclusive cultures and freelancer for a range of disabled-led companies and independent artists as a producer, access worker and agent for change. 

Kate is also the Co-Founder and Executive Producer of Viv Gordon Company, working to change the social and cultural narrative for survivors of child sexual abuse. Kate is delighted to be joining the Gloucestershire Libraries Advisory Board.

Kate is currently Senior Project Manager at the British Museum, managing the development and delivery of several of the Museums International Touring Exhibitions. Previously she has held Project Management positions at Royal Museums Greenwich and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Following her BA in History of Art and MA in Art Museum and Gallery Studies, Kate began her career in Gloucestershire, as Collections Officer at Nature in Art.

In her spare time, Kate enjoys walks with her family, traveling and visiting museums and art galleries. She also enjoys her weekly visits to Cirencester Library with her young son and seeing the excitement and joy that reading brings to him.

Rebecca has worked for Gloucestershire Libraries for 10 years - currently as a library assistant and she also worked for 12 months as Development Officer. 

After graduating she worked in business and retail marketing. With her young family she moved to Seattle for 3 years – with its award-winning library system. She also studied non-fiction writing part-time at the University of Washington. On returning she worked as a freelance business writer and has had her own work published in magazines in the UK and USA.  

Rebecca is passionate about the power of reading and literacy – volunteering in the past as an adult literacy tutor. Now her role includes running story-times and the new ‘Library Littles’ sessions. She has put on several writing workshops for adults including library-based sessions. 

She loves books and travel so - as other staff secretly admit to – a holiday isn’t complete without a trip to the local library.