Friends of the Bodleian Annual Lecture // Richard Ovenden: Defending Knowledge: Why Libraries Matter

Watch the Friends of the Bodleian Annual Lecture featuring Richard Ovenden OBE, Bodley’s Librarian, as he explores the deliberate destruction of knowledge throughout history and its urgent relevance today. Drawing from his acclaimed book Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge Under Attack, Richard will discuss how libraries, librarians, and archivists bear the profound responsibility of preserving and transparently sharing information, and their critical role in safeguarding knowledge for future generations. “Why are books destroyed? It’s about control—controlling knowledge to control societies, to control the way people behave, the way people think, the way people spend money.” – Richard Ovenden Speaker Richard Ovenden OBE is the 25th Bodley’s Librarian and the Helen Hamlyn Director of the University Libraries at the University of Oxford. He holds this post together with being Head of Gardens, Libraries & Museums. Richard serves as President of the Digital Preservation Coalition, and as a member of the Advisory Council of the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz. He has written extensively on the history of the book and current concerns in the library, archive and information worlds. He is the author of Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge Under Attack.