Dear All,

A while ago someone asked me who was going to ‘replace’ Annabelle; the honest answer was that no one could ‘replace’ Annabelle… the library is Annabelle’s library, one she has created over the last thirty years.

Nevertheless the Committee grasped the nettle with, it must be said, some apprehension. With the help of Sue James, HR Consultant, and Doreen Pinfold, University of Exeter, we advertised in the CILIP magazine, locally, in-house and on the internet.

The result was a stream of applicants; one from Qatar, one from Japan… another from Canada.. .

The Committee and the staff spent a long day carrying out a meet-and greet event for eleven short-listed applicants, and then, a few days later, a smaller group interviewed four finalists.

It is a tribute to our library that all of the applicants were very strong contenders; certainly it was no easy job to find the ‘best’.

Eventually however we did come to a decision that our new Senior Librarian would be Lisa di Tomasso; currently Head of Collections at Durham Cathedral Library, Lisa has worked with the Natural History Museum in London, the National Trust.

With a lifetime devoted to the written word and an author herself, Lisa will represent the library in the best possible way and take it into the future with enthusiasm and a deep understanding of book collections and conservation.

For the tech’ minded Lisa can be easily ‘Googled’; she can also be seen on Youtube as she appeared on the BBC’s Countryfile programme.

Stepping into Annabelle’s shoes will not be easy for Lisa but I am sure we will one and all give her the  warmest Cornish welcome.

Mark Penrose

Chair