The role of libraries in the dialogue between academia and society [Online-Event]

Lecture by Helen Shenton (Trinity College Dublin)

Libraries can exercise a critical convening power, at the centre of ‘knowledge quarters’ in the community and as physical forums for public debate at the inter-face between the academy and society.

They can be the touchpoint for exploring major interdisciplinary dialogue especially in the digital realm.

They can play an important role in the ‘soft power of cultural diplomacy’, being in the vanguard of confronting difficult international relations.

They can catalyse dialogue in societies around ‘contested history’, creating virtual reconstructions of dispersed material as a response to issues of restitution and repatriation.

In this talk, I will propose some ways how a university library can play an active role in these developments and contribute to its university’s objectives towards society. In doing so I draw on my dual experience as a museum professional at the Victoria and Albert Museum and as a library executive at the British Library, at Harvard University and at Trinity College Dublin.

Arriving in Trinity College Dublin as Librarian and College Archivist in summer 2014, I undertook wide and deep consultation as a key component of the new Library Strategy. The Strategy assumes that ‘the Library is the gateway and the entry route for many people into the University’ and that there is ‘enormous potential for the Library to demonstrate the opening of the University to the city and beyond.’

I will explore some current and emerging illustrations of these roles at Trinity College Dublin. These will include the major Old Library Redevelopment Project new Book of Kells exhibition and publicly available MOOC; the creation of the Virtual Trinity Library, which is making the unique and distinct collections accessible to the world, and includes the virtual recreation of historic collections; the foundational partnership between the Library and the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute with an increasingly vocal public engagement profile; and the role of the Library in projects examining societal issue of contested history and colonial legacy.

Diese Veranstaltung ist Teil der Vorlesungsreihe «Bücher, Daten, Räume. Die Hochschulbibliothek im 21. Jahrhundert»

Link zum Zoom Meeting. (Meeting-ID: 694 8467 1087 Kenncode: 869491)

Die Veranstaltung findet ausschliesslich online statt.