Addthis The Trinity Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute presents "Burning the Books: Series Finale of the Out of the Ashes series" on May 25, 2021, at 7 pm GMT/2 pm EST. The event is an online lecture by Richard Ovenden, Bodleyâs Librarian, University of Oxford, and author of Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge (Harvard University Press). Libraries and archives have been attacked since ancient times but have been especially threatened in the modern era. Today the knowledge they safeguard faces purposeful destruction and willful neglect; deprived of funding, libraries are fighting for their very existence. âBurning the Booksâ recounts the history that brought us to this point.