About this Event
About the event
This lecture will explore the long history of attacking knowledge, especially libraries and archives, and will highlight the ways that these institutions defend society through their role as defenders of knowledge.
Libraries and archives have existed for around 5,000 years – and are among the most enduring institutions on the planet. The role to acquire, preserve and share knowledge has undergone many transformations over that time, but a consist thread has been the way that they have come under attack from religious, ideological, or political standpoints and especially from authoritarian regimes.
In contemporary society, we see growing signs of book-banning and censorship, physical assault and destruction, underfunding, and the undermining and vilification of librarians as individuals and as a profession as a whole. This lecture will look at examples through history and from the present day at where libraries and archives are come under attack, the motivations for those attacks, and the ways in which libraries, archives and their staff defend the principles of open, pluralistic and democratic society through their work to preserve and share knowledge.
The lecture will be followed by a reception.
About the speaker
Richard Ovenden OBE, MA, FRSA, FSA, FRHistS, FRSE, Hon FRSL, Hon FBA
Richard Ovenden is Bodley’s Librarian & the Helen Hamlyn Director of the University Libraries (the senior executive officer of the Bodleian Libraries), and is responsible for their strategic oversight. He holds this post together with being Head of Gardens, Libraries & Museums (GLAM).
Richard has held positions at Durham University Library, the House of Lords Library, the National Library of Scotland, and the University of Edinburgh. He moved to the Bodleian in 2003 as Keeper of Special Collections, becoming Deputy Librarian in 2011. He was educated at the University of Durham and University College London, and holds a Professorial Fellowship at Balliol College, Oxford. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and a Member of both the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in The Queen’s Birthday Honours 2019. In 2025 Richard became an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy. He was also awarded the Benson Medal and Honorary Fellowship by the Royal Society of Literature.
Richard serves as President of the Digital Preservation Coalition, and as a member of the Advisory Council of the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, based in Berlin.
He has written extensively on the history of the book, on the history of photography, and on current concerns in the library, archive and information worlds. Richard also writes regularly for the Financial Times and the Observer.
Previous Books
Burning the Books, A History of Knowledge Under Attack (2020)
John Thomson (1837-1921): Photographer (1997)
A Radical’s Books with Michael Hunter, Giles Mandelbrote, and Nigel Smith (1999)
Riachtanais rochtana
An bhfuil riachtanais rochtana de chineál ar bith agat? An bhféadfaimis cuidiú leat tairbhe iomlán a bhaint as an imeacht? Bí i dteagmháil, roimh ré, le hoifigeach rochtana an Acadaimh, [email protected]
Access requirements
Have you got any access requirements that we can assist you with, so that you can fully engage with our event? Please let us know by contacting our access officer in advance of the event by email: [email protected]
Eolas faoi Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann
Is cumann léannta neamhspleách, uile-oileáin é Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann, a bunaíodh sa bhliain 1785. Tacaíonn an tAcadamh le scoláireacht agus taighde sna heolaíochtaí, sna daonnachtaí agus sna heolaíochtaí sóisialta. Tá tuairim is 680 comhalta tofa ann agus 80 ball foirne, agus déanann siad ionadaíocht ar son na hÉireann go hidirnáisiúnta, cuireann siad comhairle shaineolach ar fáil don rialtas, déanann siad taighde, déanann siad deontais taighde a riaradh, eagraíonn siad comhdhálacha agus léachtaí poiblí, cuireann siad leabhair agus irisí acadúla i gcló, agus déanann siad cúram de leabharlann taighde.
About the Royal Irish Academy
The Royal Irish Academy, established in 1785, is an all-island, independent learned society and academic body that champions research by supporting and promoting scholarship in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. Its elected membership of approximately 680 individuals and 80 staff represent Ireland internationally, provide expert advice to government, carry out research, administer research grants, organise conferences and public lectures, publish academic books and journals, and maintain a research library.
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Event venue & nearby stays
Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson St, Dublin, Ireland
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