William John Macnaught (born 1951) was New Zealand's National Librarian from 2011 to 2020. Before becoming National Librarian he was manager of

Puke Ariki Puke Ariki is a combined museum and library at New Plymouth, New Zealand, which opened in June 2003. It is an amalgamation of the New Plymouth Public Library (founded in 1848) and the Taranaki Museum (founded in 1919). Its name, Māori for "hil ...

New Plymouth New Plymouth () is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, in Devon, from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. The New Pl ...

, New Zealand, and Head of Cultural Development at

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

Council in England.

Early life

Macnaught was born in

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

, Scotland and educated at

the University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, t ...

and The University of Strathclyde.

Career

Macnaught spent 14 years from 1991 to 2005 at the Gateshead Council as the Director, Libraries and Arts and later Head of Cultural Development where he was instrumental in promoting the cultural life of Gateshead and the installation of Antony Gormley's statue the

Angel of the North The ''Angel of the North'' is a contemporary sculpture by Antony Gormley, located in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Completed in 1998, it is seen by an estimated 33 million people every year due to its proximity to the A1 road (Great Bri ...

. From 2005 to 2011 Macnaught was manager of Puke Ariki museum and library in New Plymouth, moving from there to the National Library to become the National Librarian. During his tenure the National Library installed the ''He Tohu'' exhibition which displays Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi (), sometimes referred to as ''Te Tiriti'', is a document of central importance to the history of New Zealand, Constitution of New Zealand, its constitution, and its national mythos. It has played a major role in the tr ...

), He Whakaputanga (the Declaration of the Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand) and the Women's Suffrage Petition (Te Petihana Whakamana Pōti Wahine). He retired from the National Library in December 2020.

Honours and awards

Macnaught received the

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the

2005 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2005 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 11 June 2005 to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2005. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and arranged first by the cou ...

for his services to public libraries and cultural life in north east England.

Publications

* Macnaught, B. (2004), "Impact and performance measurement in public library services in the UK", ''Performance Measurement and Metrics'', 5(3):96-100. https://doi.org/10.1108/14678040410570102 * Macnaught, B. (2018), "The National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa)". ''Alexandria,'' 28(3):192-196. https://doi.org/10.1177/0955749019871427

References

External links

Bill Macnaught: libraries. Interview on RNZ, 4 June 2011

Ep.3 Bill Macnaught — a librarian’s life. Interview on NZ National Library website, 15 December 2020
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macnaught, Bill British emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand librarians British librarians 1951 births Living people Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Stirling