Stella Thebridge

Stella Thebridge retired from Warwickshire County Council at the end of December 2020, where she was a Principal Librarian in Warwickshire Libraries responsible for reader development services to all age-groups as well as Manager of the traded Schools Library Service. She worked in a previous role as a researcher in a university department and has numerous publications to her name in the sphere of librarianship from 1998 to date, most recently chapters on library services to children and young people in the five-yearly volumes of British Librarianship and Information Work. Stella was a member of the Association of Senior Children's and Education Librarians in the UK (ASCEL) for many years and Chair from 2018 to 2020. In this capacity she gained a number of useful insights into national and international perspectives on libraries as well as overseeing policy developments specifically relating to services to children and young people in the UK. She became a LGA peer reviewer for Early Years provision in 2019. She was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours of 2021 for her work in libraries in Warwickshire and nationally, particularly during the emergence of the COVID pandemic.