Save and Burn, 2004; 80:34 minutes

Save and Burn builds from The Library in Crisis (2002) by deepening an understanding of the history of civilization through the phenomenon of the library. From ancient China, India, Islam, and the Graeco Roman world, we see how the library radiated knowledge and spiritual values, and facilitated the cross fertilization of ideas from one culture to another.

Save and Burn puts the institution of the library within a startling political context. Generally considered a preserver of culture, the documentary points out how libraries are subject to the ideologies of their time and place – and not above them, as may have been assumed. The film assays the commercialization of libraries, the irresponsible weeding and closing of libraries, the excesses of copyright law, but most of all, the fact that the West has not recognized the Orient for much of its cultural heritage.

The film is provocative. Historically, libraries have been used to promote or inhibit democratic debate, with a nod to the Patriot Act. The filmmaker, who was born in Pakistan, combines exquisite footage of the Alexandrian Library, the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, and Bromley House in Nottingham. Interviews include Tom Twiss, Government Information Librarian, University of Pittsburgh, who gives testimony on the destruction of Palestinian libraries by Israeli soldiers, accompanied with painful footage, as well as the fate of Iraqi libraries during the "liberation."