THE ROLE AND RELEVANCE OF NATIONAL LIBRARIES IN SOCIETY (CENL SPEECH, MAY, 2022)

I want to talk with you about the ways in which – in my opinion - national librarieshave a unique and special role in building, nurturing and protecting societies, and so are contributing to societal sustainability into the future. I hope these aspects will resonate with you and they will provide a way of putting the excellent work you are doing into context, that will help structure the way we learn from each other. I want to suggest three aspects – national libraries as leaders, – national libraries as anchors in society – and national libraries as cheerleaders