Roly Keating visits MAS
On Wednesday 29th November, students welcomed Roly Keating, CEO of the British Library to the academy. Mr Keating was taken on a tour of the MAS Library by an extremely enthusiastic team of Year 7 student helpers. Students listened attentively as Mr Keating gave a fantastic talk to a mixed group in our packed Lecture Room in the Sixth Form Centre. Mr Keating spoke about his role as a custodian of one of the largest libraries in the world, which excited many of those present. It prompted thoughtful questions related to the impact of digitalisation; the skills required in his everyday life and the sheer issue of the complex logistics managing all those books! He also spoke of his 29 years at the BBC in which he had to grapple with issues about bias, post-truth and the potential offence caused by the Top Gear TV programme. We also found out that Mr Keating’s favourite book is Moby Dick and he loves the Philip Pullman Dark Materials series!
As he left, Mr Keating praised our, “energetic and inquisitive” students, claiming this was one of the best school visits he had ever carried out!
