Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode
THE BIBLIO FILE is a podcast about "the book," and an inquiry into the wider world of book culture. Hosted by Nigel Beale it features wide ranging, long-form conversations with best practitioners inside the book trade and out - from writer to reader. Why listen? The hope is that it will help you to read, write, publish, edit, design, and collect better, and improve how you communicate serious, big, necessary, new, good ideas and stories...

Feedback or suggestions? Please email notabenebeale@gmail.com 

Feb 25, 2021

Richard Ovenden ​has been ​Bodley’s Librarian (the senior executive position of the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford)
since 2014. ​He is a ​ Fellow​ at the​ Society of Antiquaries and Royal Society of Arts; ​a ​​member​ of the American Philosophical Society;
Treasurer, ​at ​the Consortium of European Research Libraries; ​and ​President ​of ​the Digital Preservation Coalition. ​He was ​​awarded the OBE by The Queen in 2019.​ 
 
And almost as big a deal, he joined me recently on Zoom to talk about his new book, Burning the Booksa history of the deliberate destruction of knowledge; about the threats to libraries past and present; about fire, war, violence, obsolescence, complacency and underfunding. And about the fragility of libraries, and their fundamental importance to democracy, to truth and facts, to the rule of law, in short, to our treasured Western way of life.