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60 seconds with … Richard Overell

7 May 2008

Name: Richard Overell
Org. Unit: Sir Louis Matheson Library
Title: Rare Books Librarian
Dept: Rare Books Collection

How long have you been with Monash University?

20 years.

Prior to working at Monash, where were you located and what was your role?

State Library of Victoria, Librarian in charge of Rare Australiana.

What challenges are ahead in your current role?

Acquiring and cataloguing material which gives Monash researchers greater insight into the culture of both the present and the past.

What is it about your job that holds your interest or is particularly satisfying?

The regular exhibitions I curate from the material held in the Rare Books Collection. We have one opening today which celebrates the Fifty Years of Monash University. I have asked fifty academics each to choose a book they have used in their research. The result is an exciting cross-section of the riches of the Monash Collection described by the people who use them.

Of all the places in the world you would like to visit/re-visit, where is your favourite destination and why?

London, because of the wonderful rare book collections there.

What is the best piece of advice you have received?

Never let your section be side-lined.

What is something about yourself that most of your colleagues wouldn't know?

As a young man I was a drummer in various rock bands in Brisbane.

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