LIBER 2027

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[Header image photo credit: Gabinho – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67443344]

Freedom of expression depends on robust academic freedom, which in turn depends on rigorous, world-class research. But across the globe, libraries – including those supporting academic research – are coming under attack. Drawing on Index on Censorship’s research into libraries worldwide, this talk outlines some of the ways these attacks manifest: from Cambridge University Press and Springer Nature removing more than 1,000 journal articles containing keywords such as Tiananmen, Tibet and Xinjiang from their platforms in China, to executive orders in the USA that have led to the deletion of thousands of datasets and government websites, covering subjects from climate change to public health. Libraries are also being targeted through cyberattacks, with ransomware incidents crippling leading institutions and rendering their rich archives temporarily inaccessible. 

These pressures are unfolding alongside a broader rise in attacks on libraries as public institutions. Book challenges and bans are accelerating in the United States, but this is not a uniquely American story; similar pressures are increasingly visible in the UK, Canada and elsewhere. 

This talk explores how restrictions on access to information undermine the rich plurality of thought and enquiry that is essential to academic life, and how research libraries are not merely repositories of knowledge – they’re frontline institutions protecting intellectual freedom. What should the response be? How can librarians and those working within academia fight back and what can they learn from other librarians who’ve confronted these challenges? These questions, and the possibilities for collective action, will be addressed to ensure the focus is as much on solutions as it is highlighting the problems.