Who, What, Where, and How? Ownership and Accessibility of Rare Jewish Books

Join a panel of three distinguished professionals to discuss challenges and best practices in managing Jewish books in libraries, archives, and collections. We will hear about a white paper being produced through a collaboration between the Association of Jewish Libraries and the National Library of Israel and open a conversation about how dealing with Jewish materials relates to wider conversations about the ethics of collecting and access.

About the Series "Books of the People"

Jews are often called the “people of the book,” but what about the books of the Jewish people? Who owns the contents of the Cairo Geniza, the books taken from Holocaust victims, or the uniquely beautiful manuscripts of major private collectors? Who can or should preserve these items and provide or prevent access to them, materially or digitally? Undeniably, Jewish books from across the world and history form a collective heritage—but they also have particular, local, and sometimes fraught histories of possession. This series offers perspectives on the management of books as Jewish cultural property, looking at past events and current practices—and the difficult questions that attend both.