About the Author

Tim Coates has thirty years experience in publishing, book retailing and consultancy and, in the past five years, has become closely involved in the work of public libraries.

He was successively marketing director of Webster’s bookshops, managing director of Sherratt and Hughes, managing director of WH Smith in Europe and managing director of Waterstone’s. In 1992, he opened his own large book shop in London, the first in the capital to open 24 hrs, with a café and all the features which have become the style of modern book stores. He is one of a small number of those, including Tim Waterstone, recognised to have achieved a revolutionary transformation in book selling in the UK in the last twenty years.

He is now praised for his publishing of historical archives, both in print and on the World Wide Web, where he is the editor of a “Sense of Place” website and the recipient of an “NOF” grant. He is also a Bloomsbury author.

He has analysed and written about the public library service since 1999 and has advised Ministers, the DCMS, and the Audit Commission on practical improvements to libraries. He was an adviser to the Audit Commission for their publication “Building Better Libraries” in 2002. He has participated in Best Value Reviews in Westminster and Oxfordshire, and has advised a number of other councils and library friends groups on improvements to their service.

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