Dr Bethany Aylward
PhD ‘Capturing Social Movements: Web Archiving Needs of Activist Collections in The North’, University of Sheffield (2024) MA Librarianship, University of Sheffield (2018) BA Russian and History, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, UCL (2014)
Associate Lecturer in Information Studies
Department of Information Studies
Contact Details
- Email: bea40@aber.ac.uk
- Office:3.16 Penbryn Building 5
- Personal Pronouns: she/her
Before joining Aberystwyth University this year, I was a University Teacher on the Librarianship MA at the University of Sheffield where I also completed my PhD researching the web archiving needs of community-based activist archives in the UK. I have an MA in Librarianship, also from the University of Sheffield. I am on the organising group of the Sheffield Feminist Archive which is a voluntary organisation documenting the lives and experiences of self-identifying women in the Sheffield area. I am also a trustee of the Society for Cooperation in Russian and Soviet Studies, a library, archive, and cultural hub in London where I previously volunteered as the art librarian.
My primary research focus is the intersection of critical archive studies and contemporary social movements. Currently I am involved in two research projects exploring; the narratives surrounding the digital ID roll out in the UK, and the impact of generative AI on information behaviour. I have also undertaken research with the United Nations examining the impact of their knowledge products on the sustainable development of grassroots organisations.