Three new trustees have been appointed to the National Library of Wales’ Board following open competition.
Dr Gwenllian Lansdown Davies, Dr Anwen Jones and Dr Elin Royles will begin their duties on March 1 for four years.
Meri Huws, the National Library of Wales’ vice president, described the new trustees as “excellent individuals” and said they were eager to see the library look for opportunities to increase the impact of its services and further benefit communities, as well as being innovative in relevant fields in a constantly changing world.
“We are eager to see the library making a constructive contribution to the life of the nation during the coming years,” she added. “Looking to the past is all well and good, however, we must also look to the future and create benefits for future generations.”
Pedr ap Llwyd, the library’s chief executive and librarian, said: “I’m extremely pleased that the board of trustees has appointed three exceptional individuals as trustees and to serve on the library’s board. The three new members will offer a wide range of experiences and competencies to enrich the board’s membership.”
Dr Davies, who is originally from Bangor, now lives with her husband and four children in Llanerfyl, near Llanfair Caereinion. She studied French and Spanish at Oxford and worked for a while in Galicia and Brussels before completing a MScEcon and PhD in Political Theory at Cardiff University where she also taught as a politics tutor.
After being elected to represent Riverside on Cardiff County Council in 2004, she worked as office manager for Leanne Wood, AM, in the Rhondda before being appointed Plaid Cymru’s chief executive in 2007.
In 2011, she was appointed a publications officer for the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol at Aberystwyth University where she was also responsible for its research journal, Gwerddon. She became chief executive of Mudiad Meithrin in 2014.
Dr Jones was brought up in Lledrod, Cardiganshire and still lives locally on a farm in Llanon. She was educated at Tregaron High School and studied for an undergraduate degree in English Comparative Literature and French at Bristol University.
After graduating in 1992, she returned home to marry and raise three girls. Anwen has a PhD in the field of European national theatres and has published books and scholarly articles including edited volumes on Wil Sam, the dramatist from Cricieth and Hywel Teifi Edwards, the cultural historian from Ceredigion.
She is a Justice of the Peace, pro vice chancellor for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in Aberystwyth University and an editor of the Welsh multidisciplinary e-journal Gwerddon.
Dr Royles is a senior lecturer and Director of Learning and Teaching at the International Politics Department, Aberystwyth University where she has worked since 2003.
She’s a member of the Centre for Welsh Politics and Society multidisciplinary centre – WISERD@Aberystywth. Among her main research interests are territorial politics and devolution in the UK, sub-state diplomacy, civil society and language planning and policy.
She is part of research projects funded by ESRC and Horizon 2020 and is developing a research agenda which contributes to policy development in Wales. She has undertaken key leadership roles on Welsh matters within the department and as chair of the university branch of Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol.
Originally from Flintshire, Elin is married with two children and lives in Aberystwyth.
