Notes from a Simple Librarian: Booknote: Burning the Books

(Crossposted from The Itinerant Librarian)

Richard Ovenden, Burning the Books: a History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2020. ISBN: 978-0-674-24120-6.

Genre: nonfiction

Subgenre: books and reading, history, libraries, archives, preservation, LIS

Format: hardcover

Source: Berea branch of the Madison County (KY) Public Library

As the subtitle states, this is a history of the deliberate destruction of knowledge. Destruction can go from warfare and pillage (what the author might charitably call "displaced or migrated" archives, but we'll get to that). As of this post, the book is relatively up to date on the issue, an issue that not many regular people think about or even realize. Even when it comes to their own data online and how it is being raided and monetized, not many people think about it nor do they give a passing thought as they sign up for yet another online service or social media site, casually and willingly giving them their information.

The book is arranged into 15 chapters. Each chapter is a case study illustrating the deliberate destruction of knowledge and information. However, it is not just destruction. The book also presents stories of librarians, archivists, and other ordinary people working to save knowledge, often at great risk to their lives. Each chapter can stand alone as an essay. The chapters together give a picture from ancient times to the modern day.

Ovenden is the director of Oxford University's Bodleian Library, so the book does have a bit of a British focus and voice to it. Being British, i.e. from a former colonial power, he does tend to minimize some pillaging of artifacts, files, books, etc. from former colonies. Those are the files often labeled as "displaced or migrated" as in forcefully migrated from the former colony to colonial powers. Heck, let's be honest, the Bodleian holds a significant number of things that really belong to other countries, and they are not about to return them anytime soon. I did have mixed feelings reading this book given the issue of archives pillaging and him taking a bit of pride in it.

Putting that issue aside, the book does make some good points that everyone should consider. The latter parts of the book where the author discusses digital archives and texts and issues of preservation are a must read. He also goes over issues of privacy and how so much information is now controlled and exploited by private corporations who have no concern about things like preservation. If we do not take action to preserve things now, there will be very little if anything for the future.

Overall this is a pretty good book. Though aimed at general readers, it feels a bit more aimed at librarians and archivists, so to some it may be preaching to the choir. Yet for general readers, the book provides a good historical overview and a good discussion of key issues. Despite some issues, I think more people outside places like academia and elite circles need to read this. In the end, I liked it. It od not perfect but it is pretty good.

3 out of 5 stars.

* * * * *

Additional reading notes:

Author's motivation to write the book:

"This book has been motivated by my own sense of anger at recent failures across the globe-- both deliberate and accidental-- to ensure that society can rely on libraries and archives to preserve knowledge. The repeated attacks on them over the centuries need to be examined as a worrying trend in human history and the astonishing efforts made by people to protect the knowledge they hold should be celebrated" (5).

On the difference between libraries and archives. There is some generalization in the statement, and I am sure a librarian and an archivist or two may wish to add a thing or two. Still, for the lay person this may be useful or at least make sense:

"Archives are different from libraries. Libraries are accumulations of knowledge, built up one book at a time, often with great strategic purpose, while archives document directly the actions and decision-making processes of institutions and administrations, even of governments. Libraries often hold some of this material as well-- the printed Journal of the House of Commons, for example-- but archives are by their nature full of material, often mundane in its character, not intended to be read by a mass audience" (8).

Just a nice quote:

"There is nothing more to the credit of a library than that every man finds in it what he seeks" -- Gabriel Naude, 1627 (qtd. in 71).

When Flickr lowered the limit of free photo storage in 2019, it illustrated the fickle nature of many free online services and why you always need your own backups:

"The problem that the Flickr case throws up is one of trust in the companies that now control knowledge online. Active users will have known about the coming changes, and were perhaps able to move their data on to other platforms. Others who did not move fast enough perhaps lost images of their lost ones or a photographic record of their adventures. Gone in the blink of an eye" (200).

A relevant question given the U.S. elections in 2016 and 2020:

"Where so much political campaigning takes place in the realm of social media, how can we be sure that our feeds are not being manipulated unlawfully, and that online campaigning is being done openly and fairly, and with the consent of individuals, unless the data collected by those companies can be archived for open scrutiny" (210).

On the dysfunctional relationship between people and tech companies:

"At the heart of the current relationship between the public and the major tech companies is the problem of trust. We all use their services, partly because we have become reliant on them, but increasingly the public does not trust them. Society has created a huge bank of knowledge but has privatised its ownership, management and use, even though the knowledge was created freely by individuals around the world. Arguably the owners of the companies are beginning to be viewed by the public with a sense of dystopian fear and suspicion" (213).

To sum up, the author presents the five functions of libraries and archives we lose when they get lost or destroyed:

"Firstly, they support the education of society as a whole and of specific communities within it.
Secondly, they provide a diversity of knowledge and ideas.
Thirdly, they support the well-being of citizens and the principles of the open society through the preservation of key rights and through encouraging integrity in decision-making.
Fourthly, they provide a fixed reference point, allowing truth and falsehood to be judged through transparency, verification, citation, and reproducibility.
Finally, they help root societies in their cultural and historical identities through preserving the written record of those societies and cultures" (225).

Some books from the book's bibliography I may want to read later: