Tony Durcan is Director of Culture, Libraries and Lifelong Learning at
Newcastle City Council, was previously Head of Libraries, Arts and Information
for Gateshead Library and Arts Service, and has had a
variety of experience from trainee to district librarian.
Public library priorities in Newcastle have been to work with colleagues
to modernise services and create a positive profile for the
library service, which is now held in high regard by both the
Council and
stakeholders. One of Tony’s major projects has been the
development of Newcastle’s City Library through the Private Finance Initiative
(PFI) route, and the Council opened its new City Library
in January 2009 to a very positive and sustained public response.
A former President of the Society of Chief Librarians, Tony currently
chairs SCL’s Books and Reading Group. He was a member of the
former Advisory Council on Libraries and a Board member for the 2008–09
Public Libraries Modernisation Review.
Tony Durcan was on the panel at
Media, Culture, Voice
at Northumbria University in 2013.
