My friend and former line manager Paul Ayris, who has died aged 68 of cardiac failure, was an influential university library leader and a formidable force in the movement for “open science” to make scientific research freely accessible.
Paul began his career in 1978 as a graduate trainee at Cambridge University Library, later becoming the founding head of IT services. There he oversaw major shifts in automation and early adoption of web technologies, laying foundations for systems that would support the university’s large and complex network of libraries.
