Libraries and Access to Information as a Common Public Good

Keynote

Much has been made of threats and challenges facing libraries and archives in our time of accelerated political, economic, social and cultural change. Yet there is increasing international recognition of libraries and access to information as a public common good. One of the cornerstones, with education, in the realisation and maintenance of free, equitable and inclusive societies. This formulation informs the IFLA-UNESCO Public Library Manifesto 2022, the MONDIACULT Final Declaration of the same year, and this year’s UNESCO Framework for Culture and Arts Education. All steps along the way to the updating of the sustainable development goals. Against the backdrop of physical and virtual threats and challenges to libraries and archives at the global, regional and local levels, this talk to consider how cultural institutions and sites of information and knowledge are framed as a global common good in the promotion of human rights, sustainable development, and peace and stability.

Entering the Linguistic Age: Challenges and Opportunities for the Scholarly Record

Keynote

Digital Science was set up in order to bridge the gap between the technical possibilities created by digital technology, and the ability of libraries and the researchers they support to realise these. Yet the potential of the internet and related tools are not always positive. What opportunities and threats does the information environment of the future bring, and how can we safeguard and promote what matters?