Richard Ovenden OBE, Bodley's Librarian, Bodleian Libraries The keynote will look at the social importance of the preservation of knowledge, one of the traditional roles of libraries. It will consider case studies through history where knowledge has been attacked, but also where libraries and librarians have stepped up for the sake of their communities to preserve knowledge. The talk will examine our present digital world and highlight ways in which libraries can and should continue to make a difference in support of open societies. The talk will draw on the speaker’s recent book Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge Under Attack (John Murray, 2020) #CILIPConf20 #CILIPConf20keynote

1. Burning the Books:
A History of
Knowledge under
attack
CILIP Annual Conference
19 November 2020
Richard Ovenden

2. ‘There was truth, and there was untruth, and
if you clung to the truth even against the
whole world you were not mad’
George Orwell, Nineteen-eighty four (1949)

18. Nineveh (631 BCE)

21. Glastonbury 1539
& Oxford 1549

23. John of Gaddesden,
Rosa Anglica
MS. Bodl. 362

32. The Library of Congress 1814

39. Vilna, 1940-45

48. Self deletion

53. Who controls digital knowledge?

60. ‘The past was erased, the erasure was
forgotten, the lie became truth’
George Orwell, Nineteen eighty-four (1949)

62. education

63. diversity

64. reference

65. rights

66. Identity

67. QUESTIONS?