John Pateman has worked in public libraries for 44 years in a range of roles, from Library Assistant to Chief Librarian. He was Chief Librarian in Hackney, Merton, Lincolnshire in the UK and Chief Librarian and Chief Executive Officer at Thunder Bay Public Library, Canada.
He has published several books including Understanding Public Libraries, Reimagining Public Libraries and Decolonising Public Libraries. John is a Fellow of CILIP and a founding member of Information for Social Change.
John is currently a PhD student with the University of Leicester and the British Library/Living Knowledge Network (LKN) researching the value that cultural programming adds to the relationship between the UK public library and the communities it serves, with a focus on working class library users and non-users.

