1. 2. Impedance mismatch
A world on fire? EDGE Conference 2019

2. Return of the demagogue
“The era of liberal democracy is over” – Victor Orbán
“Crush the saboteurs” – Daily Mail headline
Image credit: We are Europe graffiti art, Bristol
A world on fire? EDGE Conference 2019

3. Heritage lost Libraries and archives under threat
Daesh burned over 100,000 books and dynamited the libraries of Mosul
We could view climate change as an inadvertent by-product of our way of life, particularly industrialisation and globalisation. Disasters can be aren’t always natural in origin, though. In Iraq, wreckers destroyed or looted over 100,000 books and other historical artefacts dating back as far as 5,000 BC when they placed dynamite and set fires in the libraries of Mosul as part of their campaign to eliminate polytheism and establish an Islamic state. To make matters worse, it transpired that Daesh (Islamic State) fundamentalists had commandeered University of Mosul chemistry labs to make their explosives
A world on fire? EDGE Conference 2019
Photo credit: Petr Štefan; Tatyana Gavyuk, People in Need Czech Republic -

4. Potential untapped Skills gap already a crisis for today’s employers
Near future industries wholly dependant on digital fluency
A world on fire? EDGE Conference 2019
Photo credit: Matt Lincoln for Jisc

5. 3. Fight for the future!
A world on fire? EDGE Conference 2019

6. Lessons from Scotland https://scottishlibraries.org/projects/
A world on fire? EDGE Conference 2019

7. Statutory role revisited?
“A comprehensive and efficient library service for all persons”
- Public Libraries and Museums Act, 1964
A world on fire? EDGE Conference 2019
Photo credit: The Hive, Worcester CC-BY Julia Chandler / Libraries Taskforce

8. A future worth fighting for
“A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.” – Andrew Carnegie
A world on fire? EDGE Conference 2019
Photo credit: 3D model of the Temple of Bel, Palmyra

9. That’s all folks! Martin Hamilton Futurist martin.hamilton@jisc.ac.uk
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC-BY
A world on fire? EDGE Conference 2019