The Power of Libraries in an Uncertain World

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.