About the event

Join us at the Weston Library for a private screening of The Librarians, a new documentary examining the book bans threatening schools and libraries in the United States.

The Librarians follows the work of a diverse group of librarians on the front lines of a fight against censorship. From Texas to Florida and New Jersey, books about race, certain religions, LGBTQIA+ identities and sex education are being removed from shelves, targeted by legislation and local campaigns rooted in white Christian nationalism. However, despite harassment, legal threats and community hostility, many librarians refuse to back down: their fight is not just for books, but for the freedom to access ideas. Through interviews and fly-on-the-wall footage, The Librarians reveals the evolving role of libraries and the passionate people who protect them. It explores how attacks on fundamental rights have changed, and how the methods needed to fight them must also adapt.

The film screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Director/Producer Kim A. Snyder, Richard Ovenden, and The Librarians film participants and collaborators. Executive Producer Misan Sagay will also be in attendance.

Richard Ovenden will also be receiving the Royal Society for Literature's Benson Medal, which honours service to literature across a whole career.

Film information

Director: Kim A Snyder
Year: 2025
Duration: 92 mins
Certification: 15
 

Timings

• Doors open & drinks reception: 18.00
• Presentation of the Benson Medal: 18.30
• The Librarians screening: 19.00
• Panel discussion: 20.30
• Drinks reception continues: 21.00—21.30.

Speakers

Kim A. Snyder is an Oscar-nominated and Peabody Award-winning director and producer whose latest documentary, The Librarians, premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Her Oscar-nominated short Death By Numbers, co-created with gun-violence survivor Sam Fuentes, has won multiple awards. Snyder’s acclaimed films include US Kids (Sundance 2020), Lessons From A School Shooting (Netflix) and Newtown (Sundance 2016, Peabody Award, PBS).

Richard Ovenden OBE is Bodley’s Librarian and the Helen Hamlyn Director of the University Libraries at the University of Oxford. He holds this post together with being Head of Gardens, Libraries & Museums. Richard serves as President of the Digital Preservation Coalition, and as a member of the Advisory Council of the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz. He has written extensively on the history of the book and current concerns in the library, archive and information worlds. He is the author of Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge Under Attack (2020).

Event information

• This event takes place in person in Blackwell Hall at the Weston Library. Find out more about getting here.
• The Weston Library is wheelchair accessible. Find out more about accessibility at our site.