Richard Ovenden Hon FBA
- Fellow type
- Honorary Fellow
- Year elected
- 2025
- Honours
- OBE, Hon FBA, FSA, FRSA, FRHistS, FRSE
Summary
Richard Ovenden read Economic History and Modern History at Durham University, and Library, Archive and Information Studies at UCL.
His career in libraries began at Durham University Library and then continued at the House of Lords Library, the National Library of Scotland, and Edinburgh University Library, where he was Director of Collections.
He moved to the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford in 2003 as Keeper of Special Collections. He became Deputy Librarian in 2011 and was responsible for the Weston Library redevelopment project and establishing the Bodleian’s Visiting Fellows Programme.
In 2014 he became Bodley’s Librarian and the Helen Hamlyn Director of University Libraries, and in 2021 also became Head of the Gardens, Libraries and Museums Division for the University of Oxford.
He was awarded the OBE for services to libraries and archives in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2019.
His scholarly work covers the history of photography and the history of the book. His focus more recently has been on the social value of libraries and the preservation of knowledge, and his 'Burning the Books: a History of knowledge under attack' (2020), was shortlisted for the Wolfson Prize. He writes regularly for the Financial Times, The Atlantic, Prospect and The Observer.
Richard is President of the Digital Preservation Coalition, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and a member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.