British Library Announces New CEO

Dr Paul Bate has been appointed chief executive of the British Library and is set to take up his new post on 4 November 2026. Board member Dr Jeremy Silver has been covering the role of interim chief executive following the departure of former chief executive Rebecca Lawrence last November, less than a year into her role. The Library gave no reason for her departure.

Bate arrives at a difficult moment for the institution. The British Library is still recovering from the major cyberattack that crippled its digital systems in 2023, alongside last year’s industrial dispute and subsequent leadership changes. Announcing his appointment, the Library’s board cited his experience leading ‘complex, research-intensive organisations’ and building partnerships.

From 2021–26, Bate was CEO of the UK Space Agency. The Library says that during his tenure national civil space funding increased to unprecedented levels, catalysing private investment and economic growth. He previously held senior roles in healthcare and government, including at the Care Quality Commission and as a senior policy adviser on health and adult care to the prime minister. The British Library, meanwhile, is continuing to develop its physical and digital infrastructure, including new spaces in London and Yorkshire, while overseeing a collection of more than 170 million items.

Bate acknowledged the recent difficulties facing the institution in a statement announcing his appointment, describing it as ‘resiliently overcoming the challenges of recent years’. He said he would focus on ‘strengthening the core services of our national library and ensuring its relevance to researchers’ needs and the next generation of users’.

The Library also announced a new national partnership with Netflix the day before, which includes dedicated funding and the donation to 100 public libraries across the UK of books that have been adapted by the streaming service. The two will also host a programme of events streamed to libraries across the country about how books are brought to the screen.

When Silver became interim chief executive last November, The Times wrote that he was taking the helm at ‘possibly the lowest moment in its history’, following the 2023 cyberattack and a high-profile industrial dispute that lasted six months and saw 300 members of the Library’s staff, as well as novelist Zadie Smith, join the picket line.

Speaking outside Euston Road during the dispute last November, Smith put the argument for the Library’s wider importance more forcefully: ‘If you really want to know a nation, and to experience its collective mind, instead of tying tatty flags to lamp-posts you might want to get thee to a library, any library, but especially the British Library.’