Lights, Echoes, Libraries!

Free public series | May 2026
UCL Bloomsbury Campus & Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London

Rethinking the library

What is a library, who is it for, and what kinds of futures can it help us build?

Lights, Echoes, Libraries! Moving Images of Global Knowledge Justice is a free public film and discussion series exploring libraries and archives as living, contested spaces shaped by histories of power, inequality, and resistance.

Across three events and four films, the series brings together filmmakers, librarians, and cultural practitioners to examine hidden histories, contemporary challenges, and reparative futures of library and archival spaces in contexts spanning the United States, Kenya, and the United Kingdom.

Through film and conversation, we invite audiences to think beyond libraries as buildings or collections, and instead consider them as dynamic knowledge infrastructures—sites where memory is produced, contested, and reimagined.

Each screening is followed by a live discussion. All events are free and open to the public.

Programme highlights

12 May | Black librarianship and resistance

Are You a Librarian: The Untold Story of Black Librarians

18:00–21:00 | UCL Bloomsbury

This opening event features an award-winning documentary uncovering the overlooked history of Black librarians—from slavery and segregation to present-day struggles over book bans and intellectual freedom. Through interviews and archival material, the film shows how Black librarians transformed under-resourced and segregated spaces into vital centres of community knowledge.

Followed by discussion with UK-based Black librarians.

19 May | Decolonising the library

How to Build a Library

18:30–21:30 | Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London

At the heart of the series is this powerful documentary following the transformation of Nairobi’s McMillan Memorial Library—from a whites-only colonial institution into a vibrant public space.

As the filmmakers track the work of Shiro and Wachuka, the film reveals the political, cultural, and practical challenges of remaking a library shaped by colonial histories. It offers a compelling reflection on memory, power, and the possibilities of institutional change.

Followed by a conversation with the film’s directors and invited guests.

This event forms part of the UCL Department of Information Studies research symposium, “Information is Power: Hidden Histories, Knowledge Justice and Future Systems”, taking place earlier the same day.

28 May | Black radical imagination and cultural memory

Blackness in the Library (double bill)

18:30–21:00 | Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London

The final event brings together two short films exploring movement, sound, and Black cultural memory within and beyond library spaces.

Changes in Light examines decolonising work within a major law library through embodied, movement-based practice, reflecting on space, change, and institutional transformation.

iwoyi: within the echo draws on Black British music to create an Afro-surrealist journey across past, present, and speculative futures, offering a multisensory exploration of memory and repair.

Followed by a live dialogue with filmmakers, librarians, performers, and curators.

Beyond the screenings

Following the series, we will host a participatory workshop bringing together audience members to reflect on key themes emerging from the films and discussions. This session will explore how universities, libraries, and cultural institutions might better support more just, inclusive, and community-rooted knowledge futures.

Join us

All events are free and open to the public, but booking is required.

📍 London (UCL Bloomsbury & IALS)
📅 May 2026
🎟️ Register by clicking on the ‘Book your ticket’ button on the left. Note that separate tickets are required for each event, detailed on the full Eventbrite programme. 

About the organisers

This series is hosted by the UCL Department of Information Studies, in collaboration with colleagues at UCL Anthropology, the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Library, and King’s College London Library.

The programme is funded by the UCL Arts and Humanities Dean’s Strategic Development Fund and forms part of the UCL200 bicentenary programme