Book Lovers Day: Why We Must Fight to Protect Books
November 1, 2019
November 2nd is Book Lovers Day and on this special day, we discuss the importance of libraries, books, and other bibliographical material as it pertains to cultural heritage and the antiquities.
The Importance of Books in Cultural Heritage
Books are knowledge systems that can be used to educate readers about culture, history, and anything in-between. Books can take you on an adventure through fictional and non-fictional stories while you learn something along the way. They are an important tool to be used to tell stories; however, not everyone wants these stories to be told.
Books can be targeted by violent regimes who aim to wipe out cultures and anything in opposition to their beliefs. Libricide is commonly used to describe this. It is the destruction of libraries, books, and other biographical material typically lead by these violent regimes.
Because books are paper, they are much more susceptible to destruction by fire or bombing that we have seen destroy so many precious antiquities. Dr. Rebecca Knuth recommends that important cultural and historical texts be converted to digital versions to preserve them no matter what extremists come along. Dr. Knuth says that the areas most likely to see libricide happen are areas with war, extremism, and ethnic-religious conflict.
