Information AboutPublic Library |
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A public library is a Library which is accessible by the Public and is often operated by Civil Servant s and funded from public sources. Public libraries exist in most nations of the world and are considered an essential part of having an educated and literate population. Scottish-American businessman Andrew Carnegie donated the money for the building of thousands of Carnegie Libraries in English-speaking countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In addition to Book s and Periodical s, most public libraries today have a wide array of other media including CD s, Software , Video Tape s, and DVD s, as well as facilities to access the Internet . Many public libraries around the world pay authors when their books are borrowed from libraries. These are known as Public Lending Right programs. ORIGINS OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY AS A SOCIAL INSTITUTION The origins of the public library as a social institution have not been well explored or recorded. The institution may have been inspired by the libraries of European universities, which in turn attempted to imitate research libraries in antiquity. Many claims have been made for the title of "first public library" for various libraries in various countries, with at least some of the confusion arising from differing interpretations of what should be considered a true "public library". Difficulties in establishing what policies were in effect at different times in the history of particular libraries also adds to the confusion. In antiquity, books were copied by hand. Because of the great expense of a hand-copied book, and the temptation to use books as fuel, toilet tissue or writing materials, books almost never left a library. The usual way to gain reading rights was to periodically copy a book in a library's scriptorium. Since most books were in ancient languages, scholars needed a substantial education to make a fair copy and gain reading rights. Western civilization's roots were preserved in is probably the most prominent. It was part of the Museion, the temple of the muses. Wealthy persons often collected and preserved books, and bequeathed them to friends who maintained a library. Pornographic and magical texts were often prized by the ancients, but failed to survive because they were not copied by monks. The first libraries open to the public were the collections of Greek and Latin Scroll s which were available in the dry sections of the many buildings that made up the huge Roman Bath s of the Roman Empire . However, with few exceptions, they were not lending libraries. The library at Alexandria was destroyed sometime around 400 AD, which destroyed most Greek texts. When the western Roman empire fell in the mid-800s, its libraries were plundered, and most books were burned as fuel. In the early 1400s, just before the printing press was widespread, Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman empire, was sacked by the Turks, and its libraries were destroyed or plundered. These events destroyed most classical texts. Some classical works survived haphazardly via copies from Irish monasteries and occasional Islamic scholars. The "halls of science" run by different Islamic sects in many cities of North Africa and the Middle East in the 9th century were open to the public. Some of them had written lending policies, but they were very restrictive. Most patrons were expected to consult the books ''in situ''. Later, European universities often instituted libraries for research and study. These were also very restrictive. A selection of significant claims made for early libraries operating in a way at least partly analogous to the modern public library is listed below by country and then by date. United States of America
United Kingdom The foundation of the modern public library system in the UK is the Public Libraries Act 1850 .
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