Members of the Board are appointed by the Governor in accordance with The Library Board of Western Australia Act, 1951-1983.

The Library Board of Western Australia:

Cr Janet Davidson JP (Chairman)
Mr Michael D Murray (Vice-Chairman)
Dr Matthew Allen
Mr Glen Bennett
Ms Kris Bizzaca
Cr Milton J Evans
Ms Imogen Garner
Cr Deb Hamblin
Ms Allanah Lucas
Cr Giuseppe (Joe) Marino
Dr Margaret J Nowak

Councillor Janet Davidson (Chairman)
Appointed January 2001
Term ends January 2009

Janet Davidson is a business woman, consultant and Executive Officer to The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (WA). She is a Councillor for the City of Perth and holds a Master's Degree in Management from the University of Western Australia. Mrs Davidson is also a Justice of the Peace and a qualified teacher.

Councillor Davidson is Vice President (National and WA) to ALGWA (Australian Local Government Women's Association) and is an Executive member of the National Council of Women of Western Australia (NCWWA). She was appointed an Ambassador for the Year of the Outback and is on the WA Steering Group for Women on Boards.

Mr Michael Murray (Vice-Chairman)
First Appointed 2004
Term ends December 2008

Mike Murray is an international management consultant, specialising in strategic planning and performance improvement. After two decades of helping a wide range of complex organisations both locally and overseas, he now consults to selected clients on a part-time basis.

An avid reader, and a member of a number of local libraries, Mike's interests embrace genealogy, history, politics, the sciences, music, writing and film-making. Mike has accounting qualifications, was a Fellow Certified Practising Accountant and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.

Dr Matthew Allen
First Appointed 2003
Term ends June 2011

Dr Allen is Associate Professor in Internet Studies at Curtin University of Technology and is responsible for managing and leading the ongoing development of teaching and research in this expanding field. Dr Allen is a Doctor of Philosophy (History) and has a Master of Arts, Literature and Communication, and a Bachelor of Arts, First Class honours in History.

Mr Glen Bennett
First Appointed 2006
Term indefinite (Ex Officio Dept of Education and Training)

Glen Bennett is currently Area Director of Syllabus Development and Resources in the Curriculum Standards Division of the Department's central office. Glen worked for 10 years as a classroom teacher in country and city schools, before a further 10 years as Head of Department History and Economics at Merredin and Lockridge Senior High Schools.

In 1986, Glen worked in the Department’s central office as manager of the Social Studies curriculum team, and since then has been closely involved in the Social Sciences and History as Learning Area Superintendent and Principal Curriculum Officer of Society and Environment. In this role, he chaired the committee that developed the Society and Environment Learning Area Statement in the Curriculum Framework.

Glen has a long and deep interest in school history studies, and has at various times written History student texts and been TEE examiner for History. As a member of the History Syllabus Committee for 20 years, Glen has been actively involved in school history course development.

Ms Kris Bizzaca
First Appointed 2007

Ms Kris Bizzaca is a professional historian and has worked as a consultant in Western Australia’s heritage industry since 1998. She has a Bachelor of Arts double-majoring in History and English and Comparative Literature, an Honours degree in History and a Master of Arts degree in Public History.

Kris has recently completed her four-year term as President of the Professional Historians Association (WA) and continues to serve on its Management Committee. It was during this tenure that she represented the Association as Vice-President of the Historical Records Rescue Consortium (HRRC). This significant stakeholder-based consortium was awarded $3 million by Lotterywest to preserve and make accessible at-risk archival material held at the J S Battye Library of West Australian History.

Her work and continuing involvement in the HRRC project reflects Kris’ passion and commitment to the preservation of Western Australia’s heritage collections.

Ms Allanah Lucas
First Appointed 2007
Term (Ex Officio)

Allanah Lucas is the Director General of the Department of Culture and the Arts. She has over 25 years experience as a professional arts administrator, a performing arts producer, presenter and practitioner, researcher, consultant, and tutor. In the past 8 years Allanah has worked within the Culture and Arts Portfolio, firstly as the Director of ArtsWA, as the Acting Director of the WA Museum in 2004 and then as Executive Director, Development and Strategy.

Councillor Milton Evans
First Appointed 2003
Term ends 2011

Councillor Evans is a Justice of the Peace and has been a councillor for the City of Albany for 5 years. Councillor Evans is now retired after a long and successful career at Western Power. Very interested in the local community, he represents the City on a number of committees.

Ms Imogen Garner
First Appointed 2007
Term ends 2011

Imogen Garner is the University Librarian and Director of the John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library at Curtin University of Technology. Before joining Curtin in 2003 she was the Associate Librarian, Client Services at The University of Western Australian. She also worked as a teacher-librarian, library adviser and coordinator of the Curriculum Materials Information Service at the Education Department of Western Australia.

In 2006 she received a Fellowship from the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) Board of Directors in recognition of her contribution to the practice of library and information science. She has held a number of positions on ALIA committees and Boards and was ALIA president in 2004-2005. She is also a member of the Council of University Librarians (CAUL).

Counciller Deb Hamblin
First Appointed 2007
Term ends 2011

Cr Deb Hamblin is a Councillor with the City of Rockingham and is employed by Murdoch University. Her substantive position is with Murdoch University Library and she has worked as Director, Workplace Learning and Manager, Regional Development at the Rockingham campus. She currently manages the joint use library at the Rockingham campus.

She holds a BA (Murdoch), Grad Dip Library & Information Studies (Curtin) and is an Associate member of the Australian Library and Information Association.

Councillor Giuseppe (Joe) Marino
First Appointed 2004
Term ends June 2010

Joe Marino is an accountant and is currently a Finance Analyst at the Department of Premier and Cabinet in the area that is delivering corporate services reform across Government. He has a close association with the State Library having worked as Manager of the Arts Portfolio Bureau Services from 1996-97.

Dr Margaret Nowak
First Appointed 2002
Term ends November 2010

Professor Nowak retired as Director of the Graduate School of Business, Curtin University of Technology, at the end of 2003. She is now a principal researcher in the Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility Research Unit at the Graduate School. She has served on several Government and community boards and committees including Princess Margaret Hospital Board in the 1980s. She was a Commissioner, Lotteries Commission, from 1989-94 and Chair of the Gordon Reid Foundation for Youth, 1990-94. Between 1991-1997 Professor Nowak was Chair of the Management Committee at the Fremantle Arts Centre.