Keynote Speakers

David Bollier ~ Librarians as Stewards of the Commons

Friday, June 17 ~ 9:00 - 10:00 am

David Bollier

As new digital technologies transform the ways in which people access and use information, some impertinent questions come to mind: Why are libraries still important? Can't the marketplace and the Internet take on most of the tasks that libraries have historically performed? Do we really need libraries?

David Bollier, an author, activist and leading American advocate of "the commons," argues that libraries play an indispensable role in democratic societies - but that role needs to be re-articulated and reasserted for the digital age. The freedom to read; to create new works; to share information; and to participate in democratic culture could not be more important. Yet paradoxically, even as information becomes more ubiquitous than ever, these freedoms are under siege.

The music, film, book publishing and information industries are winning alarming new expansions of copyright and trademark law, which criminalize familiar types of collaboration, sharing and re-use of works. Digital rights management and other technological locks are privatizing information and shrinking the public's traditional fair use rights. One-sided contracts and international treaties are giving large corporations new legal rights at the expense of individuals, creators and libraries. Libraries are at the forefront of the effort to challenge these trends and to preserve the public's rights to creativity and knowledge. This work, which must be fortified and expanded, could be greatly strengthened over the long term by talking about the commons. The commons is a philosophical platform that explains the resources we share in commons, as opposed to those that are privately owned and traded through the market. Libraries are preeminent stewards of the commons because they are trustees for our shared legacy of creativity and knowledge. Bollier will explain how libraries can use the commons paradigm to re-position themselves in today's political and cultural climate, and reassert their mission with greater clarity.

David Bollier (www.bollier.org) is an author, activist and consultant with a special interest in media policy, intellectual property and the cultural commons. He is cofounder of Public Knowledge, a Washington policy advocacy organization that defends the public's stake in intellectual property law. He is also the author of Brand-Name Bullies: The Quest to Own and Control Culture (John Wiley & Sons), a recent collection of stories about copyright and trademark abuses and their effects on creativity.

Bollier is Senior Fellow at the Norman Lear Center at the USC Annenberg Center for Communication, where, with Laurie Racine, he directs the Creativity, Commerce & Culture project. Since 1984, he has also worked with television writer/producer Norman Lear as a public affairs and political advisor. Much of Bollier's recent work has focused on developing a new language of the commons, a project that began with his 2002 book, Silent Theft and now continues through his Web portal, www.OntheCommons.org. Bollier lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.