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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.
The dissemination of scientific knowledge has long been a driving force behind technological and societal progress, and remains central to the vision of open science. However, shifts in the geopolitical landscape are reshaping the narrative around the role of science. Rapid technological advancements have placed science and innovation at the heart of global competition, raising concerns about the sharing of critical technologies and sensitive knowledge.
At the same time, science itself is increasingly being questioned. The inherent uncertainty in scientific findings is sometimes misused to dismiss even well-established results. Misinformation and disinformation undermine society’s ability to make evidence-based decisions and may also affect the reliability of outputs from large language models. These challenges are compounded by the rise of paper mills and a peer review system under pressure from the growing volume of publications. Together, these trends risk deepening the divide between science and society.
In this context, key questions arise: How can science—and open science in particular—respond to these global developments? How can researchers navigate environments where governments may seek to restrict the sharing of knowledge or limit the scope of scientific inquiry? And how can open science help safeguard scientific integrity and contribute to sustainable development in an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape?
In a time marked by political polarization, democratic backsliding, technological surveillance, and the spread of disinformation, libraries remain one of the most powerful yet underestimated pillars of democracy. Far from being neutral or passive institutions, libraries are active civic infrastructures: they guarantee access to knowledge, protect freedom of thought, and create spaces where individuals can learn, debate, imagine, and live together.
Drawing on his experience as a historian, public intellectual, and President of Bibliothèques Sans Frontières, Patrick Weil will explore how libraries play a decisive role in restoring dignity, social cohesion, and democratic life. From refugee camps where access to culture prevents violence and despair, to post-conflict societies where shared cultural spaces help rebuild co-citizenship, and increasingly within Western democracies themselves, where polarization, isolation, and disinformation erode the social fabric, libraries have repeatedly proven their capacity to pacify, empower, and reconnect communities.
This keynote will argue that libraries are not only places of preservation, but spaces of resistance and freedom. In an era where digital technologies can be shut down, monitored, or manipulated, the library—especially through the continued presence of the printed book—remains a safeguard against censorship and surveillance. More broadly, libraries offer something increasingly rare: a shared public space where people are free, anonymous, equal, and together.
In an uncertain world, strengthening libraries is not a cultural luxury. It is a democratic necessity. Libraries are not relics of the past—they are essential conditions for our collective future.