| Summary: | Community engagement is an important aspect of special collections work, especially for colleagues working in the Oriental department, but what was unique about the Syria and Silence project (a Bodleian Libraries and History Faculty academic collaboration) was that it created, in an unprecedented way, community engagement also around our modern collections while addressing aspects of equality, diversity and inclusion. The project was centred around a public pop-up library within Blackwell Hall with over 100 books on the theme of Syria and Silence, mostly in Arabic, Kurdish and English; it provided a space for reflection on the Syrian war and its consequences but also showcased Syrian literary talent and created a platform for Syrian voices. The books included mirrored our own Bodleian Libraries holdings, not usually visible to the public. The success of this project led to a permanent ‘Space for Reading’ in the Weston Library, providing a way for our communities to engage with parts of our modern collections as much as they already do with the treasures in our exhibition spaces. In the case of the Syria and Silence project, we held a range of author talks and involved students, the Syrian community and academics to run events and workshops providing context to the pop-up library. This, as a whole, allowed us to engage with a truly diverse audience, increasing participation of under-represented groups and ultimately changing people’s perceptions about Syria.
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