ramamrita

Indian librarian Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan introduced the Colon Classification
system, which classifies all knowledge into broad, fundamental concepts. The Colon
system then divides these concepts into several distinguishing characteristics, which
Ranganathan called facets. The classification system uses colons (:) to distinguish
between the various facets in a single notation. The name of the Colon Classification
system is derived from its use of the colon in its notation scheme. Although use of the
Colon Classification system is limited to a few Indian libraries, Ranganathan’s concept of
facet analysis in classifying knowledge has been widely influential. Some of its key
concepts have been adopted by subsequent editions of the Dewey and Universal systems,
among others.

Libraries that serve users in very specialized fields of knowledge may also develop their
own classification systems. They are especially likely to do so if the major library
classifications do not adequately provide for the organization of the literature they
collect. For example, organizations specializing in the study of mathematics developed
the Mathematics Subject Classification to categorize material on advanced mathematical
theory covered in specialized academic journals. The Mathematics Subject Classification
allows mathematicians to classify works to a much greater degree of specificity than any
of the major systems would allow.

Numerous classification systems have been created for use in other special libraries as
well. The National Library of Medicine classification system, for example, has been
adopted by most major medical libraries in the United States. That system, which is
structured like the Library of Congress Classification, uses the letter W (unused by the
Library of Congress system) for medical works. It also takes advantage of unused parts of
the Library of Congress Classification class Q, for science. For other subject areas, the
National Library of Medicine system applies the Library of Congress Classification
unchanged.

Subject Headings

Many single works in a library deal with multiple subjects. These works may be difficult
to classify using traditional classification systems such as Dewey Decimal Classification
or Library of Congress Classification, because these systems typically assign only one
classification number to each item. As a result, only one subject is represented, and the
work’s other topics are not expressed in the classification number. Users searching the
library’s catalog under one of the alternate topics would never find that particular work.
To avoid this problem, most libraries also identify their materials with subject headings,
which assign multiple index terms to a work. This enables users to find works using any
of a number of different search terms. Subject headings may be single words, compound
words, or phrases that describe the subjects of a given document. Subject headings are
particularly useful for executing online searches, which allow for a high degree of
flexibility in identifying search terms.

In the United States, the two most frequently used systems for creating subject headings
are those developed by the Library of Congress (LC) and the Sears List. The LC subject

headings, first introduced in 1914, provide detailed terms for a vast number of topics. The
LC headings are used in academic libraries, medium-sized to large public libraries, and
many special libraries. The Sears List, developed in 1923 by American librarian Minnie
Earl Sears, consists of a much smaller set of terms and is designed primarily for public
and school libraries. The two lists are not entirely compatible and cannot be used in the
same catalog.

Unlike index entries in an individual book, subject headings are generally used only if a
major portion of the work deals with that particular subject. Under Library of Congress
guidelines, at least 20 percent of a document must address a given subject for a
subheading on that subject to be assigned to the book. Examples of LC subject headings
include:

Rivers
Functional literacy
Group homes for children
Education, Preschool
Burnout (Psychology)

All of the works in a library’s collection that deal with rivers in general would be listed in
the catalog under the “Rivers” subject heading. Works dealing with a specific river, such
the Mississippi River, would be indexed under the name of that river. “Rivers” is a
relatively straightforward subject; subject headings may also represent complex concepts
for works dealing with more than one theme. In order to express complex subjects,
catalogers add subdivisions to the basic headings. These subdivisions can indicate, for
example, specific time frames (20th century, 1860s, Middle Ages), geographical areas
(Cairo, Pennsylvania, Canada), or the form of the document (bibliography, dictionary,
fiction). Subdivisions may be added to the basic heading or combined with other
subdivisions. They are usually separated from the subject heading by dashes. For
example, the book National Dreams: Myth, Memory, and Canadian History (1997), by
Daniel Francis, is listed under the following LC subject headings. Users could find the
book by searching under any one of these headings:

Group identity—Canada
Popular culture—Canada
Canada—History

Online computer catalogs provide far greater power for subject searching than do book or
card catalogs. Most online catalogs allow users to execute keyword searches by using one
or more of the important words in the subject-heading string. In keyword searching,
library users can locate the subject heading “Universities and colleges—Graduate work—
Examinations” simply by entering the words universities and examinations. This will
retrieve catalog entries for all the library’s works on that subject. The keyword approach
results in larger, less-targeted retrievals, often requiring the catalog user to review many
records to find the works desired. The great advantage of keyword searching is that
catalog users do not have to be familiar with the exact wording of the subject heading to

locate desired items. In addition, they can easily browse large numbers of related works
without having to physically locate the items on the shelves.

D.
Locating Library
Materials

Visitors to a library can locate materials in different ways, depending on their own
particular needs and interests. Someone looking for recreational reading material may
wish to simply browse through the library’s selection of recently published best-sellers.
Libraries typically maintain a section that showcases these popular materials. Most users,
however, come to the library in search of information about a particular subject. The
reference desk is often the best place for these users to start their search, because
reference librarians are trained to help library users locate the materials they need.
However, users must also learn how to search for information themselves if they are to
make the best use of the resources the library has to offer.

Searching for and locating relevant information requires careful thought and strategy.
Users can often find answers to their questions by first looking through general reference
sources, such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and other materials that are usually
located near the library’s reference desk. These sources can provide overviews of the
subject that may lead to more-detailed sources of information. Users looking for a wide
range of literature on a particular subject can search through the library’s catalog, which
provides an index of the library’s collection. In addition, users can search through various
other indexes, abstracts, and databases. These sources provide references to relevant
magazine and journal articles. The Internet can also be a useful source of information.

1
. Searching the Catalog

Library users can generally find the information they need by searching the library’s
catalog, which is an index to all the materials in the library’s collection. Catalog entries
typically list each item’s author, its title, its subjects, the date it was published, the name
of its publisher, and for some materials, the names of editors, illustrators, or translators.
Users can search for items in most online catalogs by entering keywords in any of these
categories. Users of specialized collections might have the option of searching for other
characteristics of library materials as well. A rare-book collection, for example, might
allow users to search for materials by the name of the printer or binder of the book.

By searching through the catalog, users can easily determine whether the library owns
works by a particular author or whether it has a work with a specific title. For example,
consider a user searching for the book What Is Natural: Coral Reef Crisis (1999), by Jan
Sapp. This user could simply conduct a title search of the catalog by typing in What Is

Natural: Coral Reef Crisis. Or, by searching under the last name of the author, Sapp, the
user could see whether the library has this book or other works by that author.

Searching for materials on a particular subject can be more difficult than searching for
materials by authors or title. Before beginning a subject search, the user should first
carefully consider various aspects of the information needed, identifying keywords and
significant concepts associated with the given subject. These words and concepts can
function as possible search terms. If searching under one term turns up too many possible
works to realistically examine, a more specific term might be more useful. Likewise, if a
search term reveals too few items, the user might achieve more productive results by
searching under a more general term.

Some libraries feature union catalogs, which list the holdings of multiple libraries. Users
can search union catalogs for materials that are unavailable at their local library but that
may be accessible through interlibrary loan. For more information on library catalogs, see
the subsection Catalogs in the Organization of Resources section of this article.

2
. Searching Indexes, Abstracts, and Databases

Even though library catalogs contain listings for every item in a given library’s
collection, catalogs do not list individual articles in the library’s magazines and scholarly
journals. To find details of articles on a given subject, library users must consult indexes,
abstracts, or databases. These resources provide information on articles contained in
periodicals, which are publications such as newspapers, magazines, and journals that are
issued at regular intervals. Each index, abstract, or database typically focuses on a
particular subject or range of related subjects. For example, some indexes list information
about articles on art, whereas others contain information about articles on medical issues.

An index of periodicals lists citations containing bibliographic information about each
article, including article title, author, publication title, and date of publication. An abstract
contains the same information that a periodical index contains, as well as a paragraph or
even a few paragraphs summarizing the article. Library databases are indexes and
abstracts organized for easy access on a computer. Library databases are typically stored
on CD-ROM or accessed via the Internet. Nearly all libraries have printed abstracts and
indexes of periodical literature, but periodical information at most libraries is more
complete on computer databases.

The Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature is the best-known print index to English-
language periodicals of general interest. Published twice per month, the Reader’s Guide
lists articles in more than 150 magazines commonly subscribed to by public and school
libraries. It arranges its listings alphabetically by author and subject, but not by title. The
Reader’s Guide generally lists six pieces of information in each citation: article title,
author, publication title, volume number, page number(s), and date of publication. The
Reader’s Guide is cumulated regularly. This means that listings in the latest issues are

merged with the previous issue, so that to find recent articles, users need to consult only
two or three issues of the Reader’s Guide. Each of the older, bound volumes of the
Reader’s Guide covers a two-year period. Some smaller libraries subscribe only to the
Abridged Reader’s Guide, which indexes about 45 magazines. The Reader’s Guide series
contains listings as far back as 1890. An earlier index, Poole’s Index, provides reference
information for English-language articles published from 1802 to 1890. Although the
Reader’s Guide is still available in public and school libraries, most library patrons now
use computer databases to find magazine and journal articles.

Computer databases typically cover a particular subject or range of subjects. For
example, the PsychLIT database contains bibliographic information on articles in the
field of psychology. The Modern Language Association Bibliography contains citations
for articles in the arts and humanities. The Educational Resources Information Center
(ERIC) maintains a database of articles from education journals. Most databases offer
only indexed or abstracted information, but some databases, known as full-text databases,
provide the entire text of articles. Searching strategies can vary considerably from one
database to the next, but most databases give tips to guide users in searching the
particular database. In addition, reference librarians are specially trained to assist users in
searching through databases.

Many public, academic, and school libraries have compendiums of computer databases,
such as the InfoTrac catalogs of databases. Introduced in 1985, InfoTrac catalogs
integrate many different kinds of databases into a single collection that can be accessed
on CD-ROM or via the Internet. For example, patrons of public or academic libraries can
use a single InfoTrac catalog to search computer databases of general interest magazines,
government publications, academic journals, legal publications, and health-related
periodicals. InfoTrac catalogs in school libraries may be tailored to support classroom
assignments at various grade levels. These catalogs typically include computer databases
containing the full text of articles in leading magazines, newspapers, and reference books.

3
. Finding Materials on the Library Shelves

Catalog citations indicate each item’s call number, which classifies the subject of the
work and also identifies the item’s location on the library shelves. After finding an item
in the catalog, a user can refer to maps in the library indicating the general placement of
works within a wide range of call numbers. For example, a library using the Library of
Congress Classification system might place together on one floor all of its works with
call numbers ranging from H (social sciences) through P (languages and literature).
Another floor might hold the library’s works with call numbers ranging from Q (science)
through Z (library science). Signs on each row of shelves indicate the more specific range
of materials located there. For example, one row of shelves might contain works with
Library of Congress call numbers from PS3511 through PS3523. Each book in the
library’s collection will display the call number on the book’s spine or on the outside of
the back cover. Because call numbers indicate the subject content of a given work as well

as its location, once a user finds one relevant item on the shelf, he or she may find other
useful items simply by browsing through the materials in the same location.

Finding periodicals in the library is similar to finding books. After a user finds a useful
article citation in a library database, abstract, or index, he or she must determine whether
the library owns the periodical in which the article appears. The user can determine
whether the library owns the publication by conducting a search of the library’s catalog
by publication title. Most libraries arrange all of their periodicals in one general location
in the library. Therefore, if the library subscribes to the periodical in question, the user
can generally find the publication by searching for the magazine or journal title on the
shelves of the periodical section. Some libraries also maintain periodical archives on
microfilm (a small roll of film printed with rows of very small images that can be viewed
using a library’s microfilm viewer), microfiche (similar to microfilm, but printed on a
small sheet), and CD-ROM.

The shelves on which a library’s materials are arranged are known as stacks. Open stacks
are accessible to patrons for selecting their own books and other materials. Some libraries
have such large collections that many books have to be kept in closed stacks, which are
not open to the public. To obtain books from closed stacks, the patron fills out a call slip,
writing on it the call number, author, and title of the requested book. A librarian then
gives the patron a number, which is also written on the slip. A library assistant finds the
book in the closed stacks. In large libraries the number given to the patron may be flashed
on a lighted board when the book is ready to be picked up.

V.
BORROWING LIBRARY MATERIALS

The great majority of libraries allow users to borrow materials from their collections, and
many public libraries consider this their most important service to users. Libraries that
lend their materials to users are known as circulating libraries or lending libraries. Users
borrow library materials from the circulation department, which keeps track of the
library’s collections. The circulation desk is typically located near the entrance of the
library. To ensure equitable distribution of materials among different users, libraries
establish policies about who can borrow items, which items may be borrowed, for how
long they may be borrowed, and what happens when an item is not returned on time.

A.
Registration

To borrow library materials, a user must be registered with the library’s circulation
department. The registration procedure involves recording the user’s name, address,
telephone number, and other basic information. Upon registration, the library usually
provides users with a library circulation card in addition to a printed handout with

information about the library’s hours, any fines charged for overdue books, descriptions
of various library services, and other information. Most public libraries limit registration
to residents of the area served by the library. Public libraries generally allow children to
borrow materials, but parents or guardians usually must sign the registration form to
verify their consent and to assume responsibility for any borrowed items. College,
university, school, and special libraries generally require users to be affiliated with the
parent institution to borrow library materials. Libraries of all types usually exclude those
who have abused the library’s circulation policies in the past by failing to return items.

B.
Circulating and Noncirculating Items

In most lending libraries, selected items of the collection are unavailable for circulation.
For example, libraries generally do not lend general reference books, in order that these
popular items are available to all users at any given time. Libraries also rarely lend
current issues of magazines and journals, although some libraries bind older issues
together and allow users to borrow them. In addition, libraries usually do not lend rare,
fragile, or expensive items that they could not afford to replace if the items were lost or
damaged.

C.
Circulation
Systems

Automated Library
Circulation

In the past, a lending library attached pocket envelopes containing circulation cards to
each circulating item in its collection. When a user wished to check out a book from the
library, the circulation desk would record the due date and the user’s name on the card.
Libraries used the information printed on these cards to monitor and control the
circulation of their collections. Libraries would also replace the card with a slip of paper
indicating the due date for the user. To remind users of the borrowing period, the
circulation desk also generally stamped a due date on a slip attached to the item.

Today, most libraries use optical scanners to read and record information on barcode
labels attached to library materials and on user identification cards. Using this automated
system, libraries can quickly and accurately determine the status of borrowed items,
monitor overdue materials, and inventory library collections. As in the past, however,
circulation desks continue to record the due date on a slip attached to each borrowed
item.

D.
Borrowing
Periods

Most public libraries allow users to borrow materials for two to four weeks. However,
some libraries establish shorter borrowing periods for selected popular items—such as
new best-selling novels, popular nonfiction, and videos—so that greater numbers of users
may have access to them. Libraries also try to provide greater access to popular materials
by stocking multiple copies of these items, so that even if one or two copies are lent out,
additional copies may remain for other users. Public libraries often allow users to borrow
fine art, such as framed prints or photographs, for longer periods, sometimes as long as
six months.

Most libraries allow users to reserve or place holds on items already borrowed by another
user. When a user places a hold on a particular item, the library adds her name to a list of
people waiting for that same item. When the item becomes available, the library contacts
the user by phone, mail, or e-mail. Most libraries allow users to renew borrowed
materials for another complete borrowing period if there are no other users waiting for
the same items. Libraries with automated circulation systems typically allow users to
renew their borrowed materials over the telephone or through e-mail.

E.
Overdue Policies

When borrowed items become overdue, libraries send users an overdue notice,
sometimes followed by a telephone call. If the item is still not returned after a time
established by the library’s circulation policies, the library sends the borrower a final
overdue notice or a bill listing any fines the user has incurred. Most libraries suspend a
user’s borrowing privileges after the user fails to return items. An increasing number of
libraries also have a policy of using collection agencies or credit bureaus to collect fines
for long-overdue materials.

F.
Interlibrary Loans

Most circulation departments provide interlibrary loan services, which allow users to
request items from other libraries that participate in interlibrary loan networks.
Interlibrary loans give users access to resources not available in their own libraries.
However, most libraries limit the kinds of materials that are available in an interlibrary
loan. For example, videos, sound recordings, and computer software are often not
available through interlibrary loan even though they may be borrowed directly from the
library that maintains these items. In large library systems, the circulation department at

the central library generally coordinates interlibrary distribution of library materials to
users of the various branches who request these items.

Library users typically request interlibrary loan materials at the circulation desk of their
local library. Users with connections to the Internet can access the catalogs of remote
libraries online. That way the users can determine whether these libraries own desired
material and whether that material is available through interlibrary loan. In addition,
online users can often request items directly from a remote library that participates in an
interlibrary loan network with the user’s local library. When users request materials
through an interlibrary loan program, the materials from the remote library are usually
delivered to the user’s local library through mail or delivery services. Increasingly,
however, libraries share copies of materials using the Internet or facsimile transmissions
(faxes). This enables libraries to share subscriptions to expensive journals, reduce
institutional costs, and save space on library shelves while providing access to many
more titles than any one library can afford.

VI. REFERENCE

Reference Librarian

Full Size

Because libraries provide access to ever-expanding sources of knowledge, finding
specific pieces of information is often a complex procedure. To assist users in finding
information, most academic and large public libraries employ professional reference
librarians who have special training in research techniques and information retrieval.
Reference librarians help individuals and organizations find information and make

effective use of library resources. Reference librarians are also available to recommend
notable works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, as well as videos and sound recordings.

Materials in the library’s reference section include items such as encyclopedias,
dictionaries, atlases, and handbooks. These materials are generally stored next to the
library’s reference desk. They are typically unavailable for circulation so that all users
can access them at any given time. Some public libraries offer quick reference services
over the telephone. For questions that require more extensive research, a reference
librarian will often refer users to staff members who specialize in a particular subject, or
they will consult online databases. At some public and academic libraries, reference
librarians charge a small fee to perform research using online resources.

Large public libraries may employ reference librarians who specialize in children’s
materials. Because children are often relatively inexperienced in library use, they
frequently turn to reference librarians for assistance in finding materials. Many children
ask questions related to their school work, but they also request information about
hobbies, popular culture, and social issues that interest them. Parents, guardians, and
child-care providers also turn to children’s reference librarians for assistance in finding
information on issues such as child development, education, nutrition, and health.

Reference work requires skill in interpersonal communication, familiarity with the
expanding array of information sources, and a command of general knowledge.
Reference librarians attempt to anticipate users’ questions and to improve the quality of
library services by preparing guides, brochures, multimedia presentations, and self-
tutorials on effective library use. In many academic institutions, reference librarians offer
courses in library use and research strategies.

VII.
CAREERS IN LIBRARY WORK

Librarianship—the science of managing the operations of a library—did not emerge as a
distinct and separate profession until the end of the 19th century. Until then, the
individuals who oversaw library operations usually combined these duties with their
work in other professions. For example, in the Middle Ages priests or university
professors often assumed the responsibilities of managing library operations. As
education for librarians became standardized during the 20th century, the profession
eventually became well established. Librarianship developed further as professional
librarians established networks and associations through which they shared a body of
knowledge, published professional journals, and instituted codes of ethics.

A.
Librarians and Library
Staff

The typical library staff consists of three levels of employees: professional librarians,
support staff, and part-time assistants. The proportion of each of these in any given
institution depends on the type of library, its budget, and the types of users it serves.

Professional librarians usually constitute the smallest number of a library’s employees.
Most professional librarians have earned at least a master’s degree in library science or
information science, the study of information and the manner in which it is generated,
recorded, stored, retrieved, transmitted, and used. Some professional librarians have
earned additional graduate degrees as well. Professional librarians require a wide range of
skills and talents. They must have solid bibliographic and technological skills, as well as
strong communication and interpersonal abilities. Advances in library technologies have
also led to a high demand for professional skills such as database searching and
competence in using the Internet and other computer networks and systems.

The librarian in charge of administering the entire institution is usually referred to as the
director. Other professional librarians typically administer the library’s various
departments. In small libraries, however, the director may be solely responsible for
managing all of the library’s departments. In addition to their managerial work,
professional librarians assume primary responsibility for providing reference assistance,
developing and managing the collections, and overseeing cataloging.

Nonprofessional support staff commonly assume most of the responsibility for directly
serving library users. Their activities include essential functions such as inputting,
coding, and verifying bibliographic and other data; ordering library materials; assisting
with catalog development; performing circulation duties such as checking out books to
users; and performing other services vital to the library’s daily operation.

Most libraries employ part-time staff members in addition to full-time professional and
support staff. Part-time staff members typically shelve books, perform low-level clerical
duties, and carry out other relatively simple but essential tasks. In academic libraries,
large numbers of part-time student-assistants play a critical role in the day-to-day
functioning of the library. Public libraries also hire so-called library pages to help
perform tasks that require no professional training, such as shelving books and
periodicals. In addition, many public libraries make use of community volunteers to assist
library staff in simple tasks. Many professional librarians were first attracted to the
profession while they were working as library assistants, pages, or volunteers.

In small libraries, librarians might perform a range of tasks, with one or two librarians
and possibly a clerk handling all of the activities of the library. Because of the small size
of the staff, a single librarian might combine clerical and professional tasks. In large
libraries, the support staff have taken on many of the tasks previously performed by
professionals. Much of this transfer of responsibility has been made possible by the
introduction of relatively simple and efficient computer technology, which has permitted
support staff to accomplish large portions of cataloging that were once done by
professionals. Additionally, while professional librarians usually manage library

functions such as circulation and acquisition, support staff or part-time workers often
perform the bulk of the actual tasks in these departments.

The patterns of library staffing vary from country to country. In general, libraries in more
developed countries distinguish clearly between the tasks done by professional and
nonprofessional staff. In less developed countries, the smaller size of staffs and a lack of
new, efficient computer technology have made this separation more difficult.

B.
Education of Librarians

For centuries, young people learned to be librarians while on the job with more
experienced practitioners. Librarians often performed difficult tasks, but their duties
usually did not require specialized professional training. Since the late 19th century,
however, the tasks performed by librarians have become more complex and more
dependent on technology. As a result, the study of library science has moved from the
work setting to professional schools in universities.

In the United States and Canada, education designed for the professional librarian is at
the postgraduate level. Prospective librarians attend one- or two-year professional
education programs leading to a master’s degree in library science or its equivalent, such
as information science. Traditionally, professional librarians studied subjects in the
liberal arts, such as literature or history, before beginning their professional education.
An increasing number of librarians now have undergraduate degrees in the natural
sciences, computer science, business, or other related areas.

1
. Growth of Library Education
Programs

American librarian Melvil Dewey began the first formal education program for the
training of librarians in 1887 at Columbia College (now Columbia University) in New
York, where he was librarian. The program moved to the New York State Library in
Albany when Dewey became director there in 1889. The success of Dewey’s program in
training highly skilled professional librarians soon led other universities, institutes of
technology, and large public libraries to establish their own professional degree programs
in library science.

Early library schools largely based their teaching on providing students with experience
in actual libraries. However, this practice began to change in 1923 with the publication of
Training for Library Service, a book by economist Charles Williamson. The so-called
Williamson Report advocated continuing the trend of moving library-science programs to
university settings. It also called for an increase in educational theory for librarianship,

the development of professional journals and other literature on the profession, and the
employment of full-time faculty as instructors of library science.

Over time, universities implemented the changes called for in the Williamson Report, and
the quality of education for librarianship gradually increased. In the first part of the 20th
century, graduates of these schools received bachelor’s degrees in library science. These
degrees designated completion of four years of undergraduate work and an additional
yearlong course of study in library science. In the 1950s universities began making
library science a professional degree, generally called a master’s degree of library
science, or M.L.S. degree.

2
. Modern Programs

The skills and specialized knowledge demanded of librarians have continued to increase,
and schools of library science have adjusted their curriculums accordingly. Most schools
of librarianship have responded to the heightened use of technology by increasing the
number of courses in information science. Information science combines aspects of
librarianship with technical elements such as computer programming,
telecommunications, database management, and computer graphics. It also includes the
study of ways in which humans process information and ways in which people interact
with machines. Information science programs integrate study from the fields of
communication, computer science, cognitive psychology, artificial intelligence,
mathematics, philosophy, engineering, business, and others. This interdisciplinary
background gives graduates a broad knowledge of library automation, systems, budgets,
online searching, research, and cataloging. Since the 1980s, most schools of library
science have become schools of library and information science or simply schools of
information science.

Many schools permit or require students to gain some practical training in a library before
applying for their first job as a librarian. A growing number of schools also require
courses in research methods. To have sufficient time to teach the new skills needed by
librarians without sacrificing any of the traditional bibliographic skills, a number of
schools have increased the amount of class hours required for a degree.

All programs to educate librarians share certain characteristics. They provide courses in
cataloging and classification, reference, management, and collections development.
Programs typically offer courses in the history of books and librarianship to give students
a background in the profession’s past. Students in most schools of library and information
science have the opportunity to develop at least some degree of specialization. Some may
take advanced courses in a particular library function, such as reference work, while
others may take courses related to a particular type of library, such as a course in medical
librarianship or public librarianship.

Few four-year colleges and universities offer programs specifically for the training of
library support staff. Because the range of work done by support staff varies so greatly,
there is no uniform educational system for these nonprofessional positions. Many support
staff have a four-year college degree, and some have graduate degrees. Others have only
a high school education or a two-year associate degree from a community college.
Library support staff often have no training specifically designed to prepare them for
work in a library except for the training they receive on the job. In the United States and
Canada, some library support staff are graduates of formal library training programs
offered by two-year community colleges.

Library employees at every level benefit from ongoing study in continuing education
programs. At one time it was possible for new employees to come to the job knowing
almost everything they would need for a lifetime of employment, but that is not the case
today. All library systems are continually changing, and employees need to update their
education and training to keep abreast of these developments. Most schools of library and
information science offer a range of continuing education courses designed for library
employees who wish to modernize or expand their skills. In addition, various professional
associations offer continuing education courses for library employees.

C.
Professional Associations

Like members of other professions, librarians have banded together in professional
associations to solve common problems and to advance the profession. These
professional associations address issues such as financial support for libraries, censorship,
and cooperative acquisition of library materials. They also attempt to influence legislation
that affects libraries, establish policies and standards relating to libraries and librarians,
and support continuing education for librarians. Almost all of these organizations publish
journals or monographs relating to their particular areas of interest. Professional library
associations hold conferences on a regular basis so that librarians may come together
with colleagues to develop policy and share ideas.

Professional associations for librarians operate at the local, regional, national, and
international levels. Most professional librarians belong to at least one professional
organization. This section of the article lists some of the largest and most influential
library associations. For more information about library associations worldwide, see the
Libraries of the World section of this article.

The American Library Association (ALA), founded by Melvil Dewey and others in 1876,
is the oldest and largest library association in the world. Headquartered in Chicago,
Illinois, the ALA’s membership comprises librarians from all types of libraries. The ALA
holds a large annual conference each summer, as well as a midwinter meeting each year.
The association is highly influential in the publishing field and in lobbying on behalf of
librarians.

The Canadian Library Association (CLA), founded in 1946, is the national library
association of Canada. Like other national library associations, it holds an annual
conference featuring workshops, exhibits, and awards ceremonies to present research
grants and scholarships. It has its headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario.

The Library Association is the national library association of the United Kingdom.
Founded in 1877, the Library Association consists of members throughout the United
Kingdom and in more than 100 countries around the world. It maintains headquarters in
London, England.

The Special Libraries Association (SLA), founded in 1909, has a large membership
drawn from various types of special libraries. It offers continuing education courses and
publishes a range of professional materials for special librarians. The SLA has its
headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE), founded in
1915, is the professional association for faculty members in schools of library and
information science. Its purpose is to promote excellence in education for library and
information science. The ALISE maintains headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

The American Society for Information Science (ASIS) was founded in 1937 as the
American Documentation Institute, and changed its name to its present one in 1967. Its
members work to develop new and better theories, techniques, and technologies to
improve access to information. It has its headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL), founded in 1932, represents the libraries of
North American research institutions. The organization addresses issues common to
research libraries, such as teaching, research, community service, and scholarship. It
maintains headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The Society of American Archivists (SAA), begun in 1936, is an association of
archivists, librarians, record managers, historians, and manuscript curators. Located in
Chicago, Illinois, it provides leadership to help ensure the identification, preservation,
and use of the nation’s historical records.

D.
International Library
Programs

Several professional organizations and private foundations around the world work to
promote international cooperation in establishing new libraries and in improving service
at existing libraries. These organizations also provide librarians with international forums
in which they can exchange ideas, develop networks for sharing resources, and create
compatible standards and protocols for various library procedures. Some of the most
prominent international library programs are those sponsored by the International
Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA); the United Nations

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the International
Federation for Documentation and Information (FID); the International Council on
Archives (ICA); the British Council; the United States Department of State; and the
International Association of School Librarianship (IASL). Private foundations also
promote increased and improved library services around the world.

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is an
independent association that represents libraries and library associations around the
world. The organization maintains headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands. It advises
libraries on matters such as interlibrary loan practices, copyright laws, library building
design, and development of legal deposit regulations that entitle national libraries to
receive copies of every work registered for copyright in their respective countries. It also
stimulates cooperation among writers, scholars, publishers, and libraries, and it assists
librarians in promoting literacy and universal access to knowledge. In addition, IFLA
advocates the formation of a worldwide information network.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
promotes international cooperation in the areas of education, science, culture, and
communication. As part of this mission, UNESCO funds programs for the construction of
libraries around the world and for the improvement of existing library services. For
example, its support has enabled countries in the Middle East to establish the Arab
Information Systems Network, through which member libraries can share collections and
services. UNESCO maintains headquarters in Paris, France.

The International Federation for Documentation and Information (known as FID) is one
of the world’s oldest and most influential international library organizations. FID was
founded in 1895 in Brussels, Belgium, by bibliographers Henri LaFontaine and Paul
Otlet, who first developed the Universal Decimal Classification system. Today, FID
maintains headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands. Over the years, FID has been
responsible for creating standards for microfiche reproduction; conducting research on
the theoretical aspects of information; and promoting research on the impact of
information, communications, and knowledge on national economies and society.

The International Council on Archives (ICA) is an alliance of archival institutions,
professional associations, and individual professional archivists. Founded in 1948, the
ICA is concerned with the management of records and archives in all media and formats
throughout their life cycle. The council also facilitates and promotes the use of records
and archives by scholars and the general public. Areas of ongoing interest include
maintenance of electronic archives, disaster preparedness planning, and automation of
archival resources. The ICA has its headquarters in Paris, France.

The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international network for education, culture,
and development services. It has established libraries in many countries of Latin
America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa, all managed by local staff. It has also
developed an online library based in Helsinki, Finland, that is available to other libraries

around the world. The British Council has headquarters in London and Manchester,
England.

The U.S. Department of State, through its Office of International Information Programs,
maintains about 150 information resource centers in more than 110 countries. These
centers were administered by the United States Information Agency until 1999, when the
agency was abolished and its functions transferred to the State Department. The centers
feature electronic equipment that can rapidly deliver information promoting U.S. interests
to foreign governments, media, and educational institutions. In developing countries, the
State Department supports public libraries that encourage study and understanding of
American society and institutions. The department has its headquarters in Washington,
D.C.

The International Association of School Librarianship (IASL) encourages the
development of school libraries and library programs throughout the world. Founded in
1971, the IASL also promotes collaboration among libraries in all countries, including the
lending and exchanging of library materials. The organization maintains headquarters in
Seattle, Washington.

Private philanthropic organizations also provide leadership in the establishment and
maintenance of libraries around the world. In the early 20th century the Carnegie
Corporation of New York was instrumental in establishing free public libraries in Africa,
Latin America, and the South Pacific, but the organization stopped this program in 1917.
Today the Ford Foundation, based in New York City, provides vital financial support for
libraries in the developing nations of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

VIII.
TRENDS AND CHALLENGES

Libraries of all types are experiencing a period of radical change. Technological and
social developments that began in the late 20th century have fundamentally altered the
ways libraries accomplish their traditional missions of selecting, organizing, preserving,
and providing access to information.

A.
Growth of Information and
Technology

Library Computer Services

Library Computer Services
Susan Vogel/Liaison Agency

Electronic sources of information and low-cost microcomputers have introduced
unprecedented changes to the services and operations of modern libraries. Computing
trends that began in the 1980s have enabled low-cost digital storage of information, rapid
transmission of data across computer networks, and sophisticated retrieval and processing
of electronic documents and information. These changes—especially the rapid spread of
the Internet—have reshaped the feasibility and economics of information distribution so
radically that they have permanently altered the ways in which librarians perform their
work. Against this background of increased information availability and technological
innovation, libraries are developing new, at times revolutionary, methods of providing
users with access to an ever-expanding amount of information.

1
. Automation of Library
Functions

Libraries first sought to automate their internal operations in the 1960s. The Machine-
Readable Catalog (MARC) project, begun in 1966 by 16 American libraries, established
a standard format for electronic versions of the card catalog. Because a number of
libraries collaborated to form the MARC standard, they shared the enormous burden of
creating records for the electronic catalog. By 1972 libraries around the world were using
and contributing to the development of the revised MARC standard, known as MARC II.

The potential of saving tremendous amounts of time and money through shared
cataloging led to many other cooperative projects among libraries. In the United States
and Canada, several regional organizations grew out of these efforts, including the Ohio
College Library Center (OCLC), a computer network for Ohio’s college and university
libraries; the Research Library Information Network (RLIN) of the Research Libraries
Group, a consortium of libraries founded by Columbia, Harvard, and Yale universities
and the New York Public Library; and the University of Toronto Library Automation
System (UTLAS). In addition to the initial goal of providing shared cataloging, regional
organizations offer an array of services to libraries, including online acquisitions services
and interlibrary loan systems.

Many of these regional organizations evolved to become national and international
networks. Large organizations that share catalogs with one another are known as
bibliographic utilities. Their massive catalogs compile materials from many member
libraries, creating a vast resource for catalogers and researchers alike. For example,
OCLC eventually grew to become the Online Computer Library Center, which serves as
an international library computer service, bibliographic utility, and research center that by
the 1990s contained more than 41 million records in its union catalog, known as
WorldCat. Similarly, the UTLAS consortium of Canadian libraries was purchased by the
U.S. firm Auto-Graphics, which set up a subsidiary in Canada to run this shared catalog
of Canadian library databases. The new name of this service is AG Canada.

In the early 1980s some libraries began to feature online public access catalogs (OPACs),
which allow users to access the libraries’ catalogs via computer. Previously, the high cost

of acquiring the new computer technology and the difficulty in using the first software
programs meant that libraries had to restrict use of online catalogs to a few specially
trained librarians. By the 1980s, however, advances in technology and reductions in cost
allowed libraries to begin offering public access to online catalogs. For example, the
University of California system introduced its massive online public access catalog,
MELVYL, in 1981.

Today, online public access catalogs are a common feature of all types of libraries. They
have replaced and integrated four separate card catalogs: one each for author, title, and
subject, as well as a card for the call-number shelf list. Online catalogs allow for rapid
searching in each of these designated fields, as well as in some fields—such as the type
of publication or the language in which a work was written—that were not searchable in
the past. Since they were first introduced, online catalogs have been enhanced by the
addition of keyword searching, which allows a user to search for works using any word in
a given field. Online catalogs also typically allow users to determine whether a given
item has been checked out by another user, and if so, when the item is due back in the
library.

2
. Automated Research

As early as the 1960s some researchers gained improved access to information with the
introduction of electronic databases that contain abstracts and indexes of library holdings.
These databases—known as abstracting and indexing (A&I) databases—contain
publishing data for articles and books as well as abstracts that summarize each work’s
content. By the early 1970s, commercial online services provided researchers with ways
to remotely search through large databases, such as the Dialog Information Retrieval
Service (DIALOG), the National Library of Medicine’s Medical Literature Analysis and
Retrieval System (MEDLARS), and the Educational Resources Information Center
(ERIC) database published by the U.S. Department of Education. Several other
commercial databases now provide researchers with access to an enormous amount of
information. For example, the DIALOG Corp., Dow Jones Interactive (a division of Dow
Jones & Company), and Lexis-Nexis (a division of Reed Elsevier) all enable researchers
to search for a single word or phrase in the full text of millions of articles published over
many years.

The first abstracting and indexing databases—like the first online library catalogs—were
very expensive and difficult to use. They generally required a trained researcher who
worked as an intermediary for library patrons searching for information. Beginning in the
mid-1980s, however, commercial vendors began publishing databases on CD-ROM.
These databases were less expensive to produce and easier to use. The new format
allowed users to quickly search databases with relatively little assistance from trained
professionals.

3. The Internet

Sidebars
POINT/COUNTERPOINT
Should the Government Subsidize Internet Access?
The explosive growth of the Internet has raised concerns about the creation of a “digital
divide” between those who can afford Internet access and those who cannot. Will the
poor be left behind as jobs and other opportunities in the United States economy
increasingly shift to Internet-related businesses? Will those with Internet access enjoy
educational advantages over those without such access? Should the government step in to
help? In this Point/Counterpoint Sidebar, attorney Mark Schwartz argues that free-market
forces are lowering costs and expanding access more quickly and efficiently than any
government action could. Tony Wilhelm, director of the Benton Foundation’s
Communications Policy Program, counters that the government needs to intervene to
guarantee access for all citizens.
open sidebar

The Internet, a computer-based worldwide information network, has had an enormous
impact on libraries. Librarians use the Internet and its multimedia component, the World
Wide Web, to answer reference questions and to provide access to materials not
previously available to their patrons. When the Internet was first introduced in the 1960s,
access to computer networks was limited almost exclusively to government and scientific
communities. In the 1980s and 1990s, however, the speed and availability of computer
networks and data communications lines increased tremendously, and greater numbers of
people gained access to the Internet. On university campuses, investment in personal
computers and high-speed local area networks (LANs) provided students and faculty with
the ability to access vast new sources of information via the Internet.

Americans who cannot afford access to the Internet have increasingly turned to public
libraries to bridge the information gap between rich and poor. Many public libraries have
attempted to meet that challenge by making Internet access a top priority. As a result,
libraries have extended their traditional roles of facilitating self-education and individual
enrichment by providing low-cost or free computer access to online resources such as
government, consumer, medical, and legal information. In 1996 fewer than 28 percent of
public libraries in the United States offered their users access to the Internet. By 1999 that
figure had climbed to more than 72 percent. For more information, see the subsection
Intellectual Freedom in the Trends and Challenges section of this article.

B.
Funding

Beginning in the late 1980s, an economic recession in the United States led to dramatic
cuts in funding for all kinds of libraries. These cuts were especially damaging to public
libraries and to libraries in public schools. With their budgets severely reduced, public
library systems across the country began closing many of their branches. Many

communities—such as Worcester, Massachusetts, and Merced County, California—were
forced to close their entire public library systems, including the central library and all of
its branches. Public libraries that remained open often could not afford to update their
collections with new books and magazine subscriptions. Even after the U.S. economy
rebounded in the mid-1990s, public libraries continued to struggle in their efforts to meet
increased public demand for information while facing rising costs for staff training,
materials, and equipment.

Public schools also face budget shortfalls for their libraries. For example, demand for
Internet access strains most school library budgets, often at the expense of traditional
library materials such as books and magazine subscriptions. The National Center for
Education Statistics estimates that U.S. school library expenditures on books dropped
from a peak of $478 million in 1974 to $266 million in the school year of 1992-93. Much
of this reduction in expenditures on books is the result of costs associated with providing
computers, Internet access, CD-ROMs, and other new technologies. Related costs include
several thousands of dollars each year on staff training, computer maintenance, software
upgrades, online reference subscriptions, and computer supplies such as printer paper and
toner cartridges.

For more information about funding in public libraries, see the subsection Public
Libraries: Funding in the Types of Libraries section of this article. For information about
the history of funding public libraries in the United States and Canada, see the subsection
United States and Canada: Public Libraries in the History of Libraries section of this
article.

C.
Theft of Library Materials

When libraries allow users to physically handle their materials and to borrow them for
periods of time, these materials inevitably are vulnerable to theft. Some experts have
estimated that public libraries in the United States lose as much as 2 percent of circulated
materials when users fail to return borrowed items. Some users steal library materials to
illegally resell them, while others simply take the materials home for their private use and
fail to return them.

Libraries of all types primarily lose items not through premeditated theft, but when users
openly check out materials and ignore pleas to return them. Many states have laws that
allow libraries to turn users’ overdue accounts over to collection agencies. Libraries that
catch users stealing their materials cancel the thieves’ borrowing privileges and often
prosecute the thieves under the law.

Libraries usually monitor their collections by tagging materials with magnetic strips.
These strips will trigger alarms if users try to carry the materials through electronic gates
at library exits without properly checking out the items at the circulation desk. Some
libraries also limit access to valuable or popular items that they consider more likely to be

stolen. For example, libraries may require users to leave an identification card with
library staff members in order to read certain materials. Research libraries usually require
users to read noncirculating materials only in designated reading rooms. Many libraries
also install security cameras or have security officers who patrol reading rooms and
stacks.

D.
Preservation of Library Materials

Libraries have always struggled against the physical destruction of their collections.
Fires, floods, earthquakes, and wars have damaged the holdings of countless libraries,
destroying forever much of the recorded history of human civilization. But library
materials also fall victim to slow decay caused by acid content in paper, insect
infestation, improper storage or handling, and excessive heat, mildew, humidity, and air
pollution. The slow decomposition of library materials is a universal problem, occurring
on a massive scale in developing and industrialized countries alike. In 1990 the
Association of Research Libraries estimated that in the United States as much as 25
percent of the materials in research libraries were at risk of serious decomposition. The
situation is even worse in developing countries, which typically have much smaller
budgets to direct toward the maintenance and preservation of library materials. To ensure
that library materials remain available to present and future generations of library users,
libraries engage in a variety of preservation efforts. These efforts include the
conservation of original materials and the transfer of information from original materials
to more durable formats.

1
. Paper-Based Materials

One of the greatest threats to library materials stems from the acid content of paper in
books, manuscripts, and other materials. Until the mid-19th century, nearly all the paper
used for written or printed materials was made from cotton or linen rags. This type of
paper could last several hundred years without decomposition. Since then, however, the
vast majority of paper has been made from wood pulp treated with acidic chemicals. The
residual acid slowly decomposes the paper, causing it to become extremely brittle. The
rate of decomposition depends on the original quality of the paper and on the
environmental conditions under which the materials have been stored. Acid-based paper
is especially susceptible to light, heat, humidity, and pollution, all of which accelerate the
decomposition of library materials. After a period of 50 to 100 years, books made with
acid-based paper decompose to the point where they can crumble with any handling at
all.

Libraries and archives can stop the harmful effects of acid in paper by using a
deacidification process, which retards the embrittlement of paper, greatly prolonging the

life span of paper-based library materials. In early deacidification efforts, library
conservationists dipped highly valuable pages, one sheet at a time, into a water-based
alkaline solution that neutralized the acid in the paper. Because this was an extremely
time-consuming and expensive process, only the most valuable pages of library materials
could be preserved. However, in 1996 the Library of Congress began implementing a
mass deacidification process that can neutralize the acid of several thousand books at a
time by using a gaseous mixture. The Library of Congress estimates that deacidification
can prolong the life span of paper-based library materials by 250 to 300 years.

Some research libraries and archives, especially at colleges and universities, preserve
their highly valuable collections by storing them in specially designed facilities that
strictly control the levels of light, heat, and humidity. The facilities also feature air-
circulation systems that filter out damaging airborne pollutants. Access to the storage
areas is often limited to trained staff members. The staff members retrieve the materials
and deliver them to patrons for use in reading rooms, where proper handling procedures
can be ensured.

Publishers can contribute to future preservation efforts by following the guidelines of the
American Library Association and other library organizations, which advise publishers to
use acid-free paper when printing new books considered to have enduring value. Despite
wide acceptance of the value of these guidelines, fewer than 20 percent of hardcover
books in the United States are printed on acid-free paper. Even fewer paperback books
are printed on acid-free paper.

Aside from conserving original materials through processes such as deacidification,
libraries transfer the information from some fragile materials to newer, more durable
formats. For example, to preserve the information contained in newspapers, books, and
other paper-based materials, libraries photographically reproduce the pages onto
microfilm or microfiche, miniature transparencies that users can magnify for viewing or
printing with special equipment. Microfilm and microfiche significantly increase the
longevity of library content. They also enable libraries to store bulky, paper-based
documents in much smaller spaces.

2
. Audio and Visual Materials

Not only paper-based materials risk deterioration on library shelves. Similar dangers
confront audio and visual library materials, such as sound recordings, photographs, films,
and videotapes. For example, nitrate-based film stock was the only available format for
motion-picture production until 1951, but the nitrate in this type of film causes it to decay
very quickly, even in controlled settings. Today, half of the 21,000 feature-length films
made in the United States before 1951 no longer exist. Many have been lost or destroyed,
but a vast number have simply decomposed beyond repair. Libraries and archives
preserve nitrate-based films by transferring the images to a more resilient, acetate-based
film stock. They preserve other audio and visual materials in similar ways. For example,

original sound recordings are preserved by transferring them from delicate and unstable
wax cylinders or magnetic tapes to newer digital formats such as CD-ROMs.

In addition to preserving their materials from deterioration, libraries must guard against
the obsolescence of machine-readable materials—materials that are read and interpreted
by machines. Many valuable documents in machine-readable materials were first
recorded in formats that have now become obsolete. Machines able to play back the
recordings either no longer exist or are so rare that they are not practical for use in
libraries or even for storage in archives. For example, U.S. president Richard Nixon used
Sony Model 800 machines to record the famous White House tapes that eventually
incriminated him in the Watergate scandal of the early 1970s. Today these tape machines
are obsolete, and only a few still exist to play back the original White House tapes. To
allow historians, scholars, and interested citizens to hear these recordings, the National
Archives and Records Administration transferred them to newer formats, such as CD-
ROMs.

3
. Computer Data

Computer software and hardware introduce additional problems to the preservation
efforts of libraries and archives. Because common standards for computer software and
hardware change so quickly, vast amounts of information stored in obsolete computers
can no longer be accessed using modern equipment. As a result, libraries and archives
risk forever losing access to valuable computer documents such as government statistical
data and geological surveys. To ensure that original computer data remain accessible
using contemporary equipment, libraries and archives must continually transfer these data
to new formats. For example, every ten years the National Archives and Records
Administration transfers all computer data and other electronic records to new formats.
Because transferring electronic records can be an extremely costly and time-consuming
process, most library conservators and archivists can transfer and preserve only those
materials that they determine are of enduring value. As the quantity of computer-based
records increases each year, the task of identifying which electronic materials warrant
preservation becomes increasingly difficult.

E.
Intellectual Freedom

Libraries attempt to acquire, create, and provide access to all types of information,
including information that is potentially controversial. In the United States, librarians
have steadfastly defended this practice, which is known as intellectual freedom.
Intellectual freedom encompasses a broad set of principles that support freedom of
speech and freedom of the press. The most widely endorsed expression of intellectual
freedom is the Library Bill of Rights, first drafted by the American Library Association

(ALA) in 1939. In recent years, the availability of controversial information over the
Internet has presented new challenges to the principles of intellectual freedom.

1
. The Library Bill of Rights

Since the mid-20th century, the American Library Association has presented the most
persistent and influential defense of the library’s role in protecting intellectual freedom.
The ALA’s Library Bill of Rights is a basic policy statement on access to libraries and
library materials. It asserts that all libraries are forums of information and ideas, and that
libraries should not exclude certain materials because of the origin, background, or views
of the author or others involved in the creation of the materials.

Americans first expressed their ideas about intellectual freedom by condemning the
censorship of specific publications. In 1939 certain libraries around the country began
censoring the novel The Grapes of Wrath, by American author John Steinbeck. Some
librarians removed the book from their shelves because they considered it immoral, but
most who censored the novel opposed the social and political views advanced by the
author. The ALA responded to the censorship of The Grapes of Wrath and other books by
adopting in 1939 the first draft of the Library Bill of Rights. Since then, the ALA has
revised, amended, and interpreted the document several times, often in response to
pressures against specific publications or library practices.

Over the years, the ALA has broadened the scope of the Library Bill of Rights beyond
opposition to censorship. The ALA now encourages libraries to ensure that every
member of the community has free access to library materials, regardless of an
individual’s origin, age, background, or views about society or politics. In addition, the
ALA asserts that libraries must strive to protect the confidentiality of patrons’ circulation
records to ensure that every individual may freely use all library materials without fear of
reprisal. The ALA also encourages libraries to protect their librarians’ own intellectual
freedom by guaranteeing them rights to free expression without fear of professional
reprisal. Finally, the ALA suggests that libraries should carefully determine whether they
may advocate social or political causes without compromising their objectivity in the
selection of materials.

2
. Intellectual Freedom and the Internet

The Internet has introduced unique challenges to libraries’ defense of intellectual
freedom. Since the Internet emerged as a mainstream communications medium in the
mid-1990s, libraries have provided Internet access in an effort to expand the scope of
information available to users. However, many people feel that some content available on
the Internet, particularly pornography, should not be available for viewing in libraries.

These people are particularly concerned that children will gain access to sexually explicit
materials through Internet computer terminals in libraries.

Citing free-speech protections, U.S. federal courts have repeatedly blocked laws designed
to protect children from accessing pornography on the Internet, and libraries are paying
close attention to these rulings. In a unanimous decision in 1997, the United States
Supreme Court struck down the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 law that made it a
crime to make “indecent” or “patently offensive” material available to minors over
computer networks. In the Court’s decision, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that “the
interest in encouraging freedom of expression in a democratic society outweighs any
theoretical but unproven benefit of censorship.” Lawmakers responded in 1998 by
passing a narrower antipornography bill, the Child Online Protection Act (COPA). This
law required commercial World Wide Web sites to ensure that children could not access
material deemed “harmful to minors.” In 1999 a federal judge blocked that bill as well,
ruling that it too would dangerously restrict constitutionally protected free speech.

Despite legislative and community efforts to limit children’s access to particular sites on
the Internet, the ALA maintains that, in accordance with the Library Bill of Rights,
libraries must support access to information on all subjects that serve the needs or
interests of each user, regardless of the user’s age or the content of the material.
Accordingly, the ALA opposes efforts to block library users’ access to specific types of
content on the Internet, including efforts to block access to pornographic content.
Furthermore, it argues that providing connections to the Internet and other electronic
networks is not the same as selecting and purchasing material for a library’s collection.
The ALA therefore maintains that users themselves must assume responsibility for
determining what material is appropriate. Likewise, the ALA argues that parents and
legal guardians who are concerned about their children’s use of electronic resources
should provide guidance to their own children rather than requiring libraries to do so.
However, the ALA does acknowledge that some information accessed electronically may
not meet a library’s standards for the content of its own collection.

Many parent advocacy groups have expressed concern that the ALA’s defense of
intellectual freedom has had the unintended effect of allowing children to view
pornographic materials on the library’s computers. Some local public libraries have
responded to these concerns by reserving specific Internet terminals for children. The
libraries have equipped these computers with special software designed to filter out any
pornographic material while allowing access to all other materials. Critics of filtering
software claim that it blocks access to numerous sites that have nothing to do with
pornography or sexually explicit material.

In 1997 the ALA issued a strong statement against the use of filtering software by
libraries, affirming that the use of such software to block access to constitutionally
protected speech violates the Library Bill of Rights. The ALA joined civil liberties
groups in opposing the Children’s Internet Protection Act, a 2000 law that required all
public schools and libraries receiving federal technology funds to install filtering
software. In 2002 a panel of three federal judges unanimously struck down the law,

finding that the filtering software suppressed Web sites whose content was
constitutionally protected. However, in 2003 the Supreme Court reversed that decision
and declared the law constitutional. Just as libraries have the right to exclude
pornography from their print collections, the Court said, so too may they exclude
inappropriate material from their Internet terminals. Concerns about infringement of free
speech are misplaced, the Court ruled, because the law allows libraries to permit access to
blocked sites at the request of patrons for “bona fide research or other lawful purposes.”
The burden placed on these library patrons, the Court said, was “comparatively small”
when weighed against the legitimate interest of the government in shielding children
from inappropriate sexual material.

Until the 1960s very few libraries offered services specifically designed for people with
disabilities. Since then, however, many libraries have made significant modifications to
their buildings and to their collections in an effort to provide the disabled community
with access to library resources and services. For instance, libraries now serve the needs
of the visually impaired with reading materials printed in the Braille system (a system of
raised dots that can be read by touch), books on tape (audio recordings of books,
commonly known as talking books), and large-print magazines and books for users with
limited sight.

In the United States, the passage in 1990 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
led to significantly greater access to library resources for people with disabilities. The
ADA provided disabled persons with protection against discrimination and guaranteed
them access to public services and accommodations. Libraries complied with the law by,
among other things, adding entrance ramps and elevators to provide wheelchair users
greater access to library buildings. They also widened aisles in the book stacks to allow
these same patrons easier access to library materials.

The Library of Congress’s National Library Service for the Blind and Physically
Handicapped issues a catalog of recordings on compact disc and cassette. It also lists
books available in large-print and Braille editions. A cooperative network of libraries
throughout the country circulates these materials to make them available to as many users
as possible. Libraries in the United States have also assisted with the development of
Radio Information Service, a closed-circuit radio reading service for people who are
visually impaired. Volunteers for this service read newspapers, books, novels, and short
stories for users via closed-circuit radio.

Modern technology has expanded library services for people with impaired vision and
hearing. For example, some libraries have introduced computers with the Versa Braille
system, which translates what is appearing on a computer screen into Braille characters.
Some libraries also feature a device called an Optacon, which converts print or computer
output into a tactile form. To read, the user moves the Optacon camera across a line of
print while interpreting the movements of the tactile forms with the index finger of the
other hand. The Kurzweil Reading Machine is another computer device that libraries
provide for visually impaired users. It scans a book, magazine, or other printed material
and then reads it aloud using a synthesized voice. The Reading Edge Scanner can also

convert printed text into speech. Some libraries are equipped with Braille printers, which
allow blind and visually impaired patrons to make Braille copies of computer-generated
material. For people with limited vision, some libraries provide computers with large
keyboards, oversized keys, and monitors that automatically enlarge the letters that appear
on the screen.

Some libraries provide specialized telecommunications devices for the deaf and the
hearing impaired, known variously as TTs (text telephones), TDDs (telecommunications
devices for the deaf), and TTYs (teletypewriters). TTY is the most widely used of these
abbreviations. TTYs consist of display monitors and keyboards that allow hearing
impaired users to type messages and send them via telephone lines to people with TTY
displays in other locations. A deaf or hearing impaired person can also place a call to
someone who does not have a TTY by sending a message through an operator at a relay
service. The operator calls the intended party on the telephone and relays messages word
for word during the conversation. Many libraries also have other special aids and
materials for the deaf and the hearing impaired, including closed-captioned videos, which
print written dialog on the television screen as it is being spoken.

IX.
HISTORY OF
LIBRARIES

Libraries are nearly as old as the written word. The earliest known body of written
materials was assembled in Mesopotamia (in present-day Iraq and Syria) more than 5,000
years ago. Ever since then, cultures have established libraries whenever social, political,
and economic developments have enabled them to record and collect knowledge. The
formation of libraries required the support of political or religious leaders who recognized
that historical records were necessary to document, protect, and promote their society’s
achievements. Libraries also could not have developed without readers—a core group of
literate, educated people who had enough leisure time and motivation to use the new
resource.

The Sumerians, an ancient Mesopotamian civilization, collected written records of legal
contracts, tax assessments, and bills of sale. They recorded these documents in
cuneiform, a system of writing in which scribes (writers or copiers) cut wedges of
varying size, shape, and depth into damp clay tablets. For permanent storage, the
Sumerians then baked the tablets and placed them in central locations. These collections
of cuneiform tablets functioned as libraries for use by community leaders, who generally
were the only literate members of the society. Archaeological evidence shows that scores
of cuneiform library collections existed more than 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamian
urban centers.

Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian of the 1st century BC, described a library of sacred
texts at Thebes in the mortuary temple of Egyptian king Ramses II (ruler from 1290 to
1224 BC). However, modern archaeologists have found no evidence of such a library in
explorations of the temple ruins.

The palace library of Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, built in the city of Nineveh on the
Tigris River in present-day Iraq in the 600s BC, offers the earliest detailed evidence of an
ancient library’s composition. Ashurbanipal’s palace scribes produced the religious,
literary, historical, legal, and business documents that made up the library’s collection.
They produced these documents as clay, wood, and sometimes wax tablets. Over time,
the scribes developed a complex system to organize and classify the library’s collection,
using tablets of different shapes for different types of records. For example, they used
four-sided tablets to record loan transactions and round tablets to record agricultural
production. They then placed different types of documents into containers of different
shapes and designated separate rooms for the storage of records concerning government,
history, geography, law, taxes, astronomy, and other subjects. The scribes further refined
their bibliographic system with organizational aids such as colored markings, colophons
(explanations of a document’s production), and a subject classification scheme that used
keywords in the text’s first line. Estimates place the contents of Ashurbanipal’s library at
the time of his death at over 25,000 tablets written in several languages.

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece was the first known civilization to establish libraries for use by the
popular classes as well as for members of the ruling elite. In the 500s BC Pisistratus, who
ruled Athens, and Polycrates, the ruler of Sámos, both began constructing what could be
considered public libraries. Most people still could not read, however, so in practice these
libraries served only a small percentage of the total population. In addition to the
government-owned libraries, wealthy Greeks and members of the professional class
established private libraries, as well as specialized libraries in medicine, philosophy, and
other disciplines. The philosopher Aristotle had an extensive library that scholars
consulted, although historians have found no actual listing of the titles in his collection.
Greek scholars Euripides, Plato, Thucydides, and Herodotus also owned significant
personal libraries.

To organize and inventory the library’s thousands of scrolls, Alexandrian poet and
scholar Callimachus developed the Pinakes, a 120-volume catalog of the library’s
holdings organized into at least ten main subject categories. Within these broad subject
categories, Callimachus listed authors alphabetically by first name. A mob destroyed the
library of Alexandria in the 2nd century AD, but by that time it had already demonstrated
the economic and cultural value of amassing large research collections and forging a set
of practices to organize and classify them.

For hundreds of years the only library to rival the library of Alexandria in the size and
scope of its collection was the library in the kingdom of Pergamum, in western Asia
Minor (now Turkey). Archaeological research indicates that the Pergamum library
contained as many as 160,000 scrolls, and like the Alexandrian library it had a catalog to
simplify access to the collections. The library was founded by Attalus I, who reigned
from 241 to 197 BC. His son, Eumenes II, who reigned from 197 to about 160 BC,
significantly expanded the library. Attalus III, who became ruler of Pergamum in 138 BC,
bequeathed his kingdom and its library to the Romans in 133 BC.

According to legend, Alexandrian ruler Ptolemy II banned the export of papyrus from
Egypt because he was jealous of the competing library in Pergamum. This ban forced
scribes at the Pergamum library to use an alternative writing material, and they eventually
began to transcribe many of their library’s texts onto parchment, a material made from
animal skins. Ironically, the parchment turned out to be more durable than papyrus,
particularly when several sheets were sewn together to form books. Because of its
increased durability, by 400 AD parchment had replaced papyrus throughout Europe as
the principle writing material.

D.
Ancient Rome

After conquering Macedonia in 146 BC, the Roman Empire acquired large collections of
literature from the Greek libraries scattered throughout the region. Roman officials often
carried this literature back to their private villas as spoils of war. As the Roman Empire
grew in wealth and power, Romans considered it fashionable to surround themselves with
books as a mark of social distinction. By 50 BC many wealthy Roman families had
developed extensive private libraries.

Although Roman emperor Julius Caesar commissioned a public library for Rome before
he died in 44 BC, Roman libraries open to members of the public did not exist until 28 BC,
when the emperor Augustus dedicated two collections attached to the Temple of Apollo.
Like Ashurbanipal’s library and the library of Alexandria, however, only a fraction of the
local population was permitted access to Roman “public” libraries. Those who did have
access were permitted to use the libraries primarily for official purposes. By the end of
the 3rd century AD, Rome boasted nearly 30 quasi-public libraries, most attached to
temples. These libraries divided their scroll collections by language into Greek and Latin
sections, organizing them by subject and then alphabetically by author. Although housed
in impressive buildings, the collections of Roman libraries were small in size and
vulnerable to fire, insect damage, and other hazards.

The Ulpian library was one of the greatest quasi-public libraries in Rome. Founded by
Emperor Trajan in AD 114, the Ulpian library, like many Roman libraries, was divided
into Greek and Latin sections. Roman emperor Hadrian also built a considerable private
library for his palatial residence outside of Rome at Tivoli.

By the 4th century AD, Rome was in decline as the world’s political and cultural center,
and, as attacks by invaders intensified, Rome’s strong library tradition began to
disintegrate. The center of the fading Roman Empire during this period of decline moved
eastward to Constantinople (present-day İstanbul), and the Byzantine Empire became a
haven for many great book collections. Emperor Constantine the Great copied the Roman
pattern of dividing collections by language when he established his own palace library in
330 AD. In subsequent centuries Constantinople’s churches accumulated small libraries of
liturgical manuscripts, while some of its monasteries built impressive collections
numbering nearly 10,000 items.

Christians dispersed (and in many cases destroyed) Roman library collections when they
defeated Roman paganism during the 4th century AD. However, early Christians believed
in using books and libraries to disseminate and preserve their religious writings.
Christians carried on the Roman concept of the library in collections established by
several Christian leaders, such as Saint Damascus I in the 4th century and Saint Gregory I
in the 6th century.

In the 6th century Catholic bishops in Europe began taking control of all church property,
including manuscript collections in libraries. Thereafter, library collections became
communal church possessions that could be copied and distributed relatively freely. For
about the next 1,000 years during the Middle Ages (which lasted from the 5th century to
the 15th century), medieval libraries in Europe acquired, copied, and disseminated texts
by relying on correspondence between monasteries. Eventually, these libraries developed
a system of procedures to organize and classify their collections. From this mix of
activities emerged a highly decentralized system of libraries scattered throughout Europe.

By the beginning of the Middle Ages, the papyrus scroll was no longer the common text
format. It had been replaced by the parchment codex, an early form of book consisting of
bundles of folded parchment sheets inscribed on both sides. These sheets were stitched
together and placed between protective covers. In codex form these manuscripts carried
more text in less space, and they were easier to transport and read than were papyrus
scrolls. In addition, their bindings were easier to decorate, and their compactness allowed
church officials to move them in and out of closed storage spaces within walls, where
manuscripts were kept with other treasures. The church clergy stored less-valued texts in
armaria, or book cupboards, which were generally situated in more-accessible church
locations.

To enhance quality and quantity of manuscript production, a church official often
established a separate room, called a scriptorium, in which a carefully selected group of
skilled clergy—known as monastic scribes—copied valuable religious texts. The scribes
almost invariably wrote their manuscripts in Latin, which allowed speakers of different
vernacular (local) languages to understand and communicate in a single, universal mode
of expression. They used quill pens to copy the Bible, liturgical books, Latin grammars
(books containing rules and principles of the Latin language), and small numbers of
secular books onto parchment. Because medieval libraries did not follow the directives of
any centralized authority, they frequently developed special techniques in the production
of manuscripts. For example, certain scribes became experts at creating elaborate texts
known as illuminated manuscripts, which were embellished with beautiful color
illustrations and were often bound with fine leather set with jewels.

By the middle of the 6th century, leaders of the Christian monastic order known as the
Benedictines were requiring their monks to read daily. Thus, as missionary monks
traveled throughout rural Europe to establish relatively isolated monasteries, they made
sure to include space for libraries. For example, the monasteries of Saint Gall in
Switzerland, Holy Island in England, Fulda in Germany, and Bobbio in Italy all
maintained outstanding libraries. Many of these rural monasteries provided secure

quarters for collections of sacred manuscripts that urban church libraries could no longer
provide. In the mid-7th century, for example, Benedict Biscop, an English abbot, traveled
five times to Rome, returning with pack animals loaded with valuable books. In the late
8th century the English scholar Alcuin established two libraries in Aachen in what is now
Germany—one for the court of Charlemagne, king of the Franks, the other for the palace
school. In addition, Alcuin built a library at Tours in France after he became bishop there.

By contemporary standards, monastery libraries were small. Before 1200 most
monasteries housed fewer than 100 books and manuscripts. Very few monastery
collections exceeded 300, in large part because, on average, the approximately 40 scribes
at work in each monastery scriptorium could reproduce no more than two manuscripts
per year. Nonetheless, the copying and distribution of books and manuscripts spread
Latin culture to monasteries located throughout rural Europe. By perpetuating copying
practices, over time monastic scribes also helped standardize orthography (the art or
study of correct spelling), calligraphy (the art or study of handwriting), and punctuation.

Europe and its libraries changed substantially during the High Middle Ages, which lasted
from the mid-11th century through the 13th century. Europeans had increased contact
with distant civilizations through the efforts of explorers such as Marco Polo and through
the wars fought by soldiers in the Crusades. Europe also experienced increased
production and consumption within an emerging money-based economy. This began to
generate surplus wealth that could be used for patronage and investment. In addition,
throughout Europe religious reforms began to take hold and monarchies began to
develop. All of these factors combined to shift the locus of learning from rural
monasteries to schools within urban cathedrals. Some of these schools eventually
developed large and influential libraries.

Cathedrals served as the headquarters for the church’s bishops and archbishops; they also
served as schools where religious training—and some secular training—for priests took
place. Unlike monastic libraries, the libraries in cathedrals and cathedral schools were
designed for educational rather than inspirational reading. For this reason they contained
more secular books than did monastic collections. Universities grew out of these
cathedral schools and nurtured the rise of professions such as law and medicine. They
also answered the needs of a growing and increasingly literate middle class that
demanded greater access to books and information. Members of the new middle class
also advocated a wider acceptance of local, vernacular literatures in addition to the
universal, Latin-based literature.

Libraries responded to these public demands by increasing the size and scope of their
collections. The library at the Sorbonne reflected many of these changes. The Sorbonne
was established by French theologian Robert de Sorbon in about 1257 as a college of
theology for students at the University of Paris. By 1289 its library had issued a catalog
containing listings for 1,000 volumes, and many of these volumes contained separately
titled works. All but four titles in the catalog were in Latin. The library at the Sorbonne
also instituted a set of rules and regulations for library use. To ensure protection for its
valuable books, it chained about 20 percent of its collection to shelves that were tilted

toward readers at an angle. There, several standing patrons could consult one manuscript
at a time, or one patron could consult several manuscripts at a time. By the end of the
15th century the Sorbonne’s collection had grown to 2,500 volumes, increasing numbers
of which were in vernacular languages. Elsewhere in Europe, library managers also
implemented new measures to secure, house, and arrange collections that in many cases
had grown to several thousand volumes.

F.
The Renaissance and Reformation

Gutenberg Bible

Gutenberg Bible
The Gutenberg Bible is the first book known to have been created with movable
metal type. It was printed by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany, between
1450 and 1455. The advent of movable type increased the efficiency of printing and
the number of books that could be produced. More books and a more literate
population, in turn, enhanced the spread of libraries throughout Europe.
Encarta Encyclopedia
Culver Pictures

Full Size

European libraries changed significantly after 1450, when German printer Johannes
Gutenberg first began printing with movable type in the city of Mainz. Printing spread so
rapidly throughout western Europe that by 1600 new presses had issued approximately
30,000 separate titles totaling about 20 million books. For a time, libraries—like their
patrons—continued to favor hand-copied Latin manuscripts. However, between 1450 and
1600 Europe experienced a series of power shifts that greatly influenced the
dissemination of printed books to libraries throughout the continent. In addition, many of
these books were written in vernacular languages rather than in Latin.

During the Renaissance, from about the mid-14th century to the latter part of the 16th
century, scholars produced a flood of literature expressing new beliefs about society,
religion, government, art, culture, and other subjects. Books and libraries played a central
role in the revival of interest in the intellectual heritage of ancient Greece and Rome.
Scholars and poets in Italy such as Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio sparked these
developments in the 14th century by actively seeking out long-forgotten manuscripts of
classical authors and by building small private libraries. However, libraries established
during the Renaissance usually contained works from all periods, classical, medieval, and
contemporary.

Sistine Hall of Vatican Library

Sistine Hall of Vatican Library
The Vatican Library was designed by Italian architect Domenico Fontana between
1587 and 1590. An impressive example of Renaissance architecture, the library has
one of the finest collections of books and manuscripts in the world.
Scala/Art Resource, NY

Full Size

Pope Nicholas V established the Vatican Library in the mid-14th century. He appointed
as librarian the scholar Giovanni Andrea de’ Bussi, who helped make the library one of
the world’s greatest scholarly collections. Eventually, monasteries declined in importance
as the centers of culture, and noble families such as those of Lorenzo de’ Medici in Italy
and the duke of Orleans in France built extensive private libraries. Italian artist
Michelangelo designed and built the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence, Italy,
to house the Medici collection. French bibliophile Jean Grolier also achieved renown as
owner of one of the finest private libraries of the time. In the Hungarian city of Buda
(now part of Budapest), King Matthias Corvinus established an exceptional private
collection of about 3,000 volumes.

Meanwhile, donations from kings, nobles, bishops, and book collectors helped spur the
growth of libraries at the universities in Oxford, Paris, and other European centers of
learning. More than 75 universities were founded before 1500 and all had some form of
library. See Colleges and Universities: History.

During the 16th century the Protestant Reformation also had a major impact on European
library development, especially in England. Protestants in England created libraries as
repositories of their faith against the influence of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1536,
when King Henry VIII dissolved the Roman Catholic monasteries in the territory under
his control, most monasteries lost their library collections. In addition, because this
upheaval took place when new presses were already challenging the manuscript-based
librarianship of monasteries, printed texts of Protestant and secular information quickly
became more prevalent than the manuscripts from Catholic monasteries. Responses to
these new developments generally took two forms. Some locales developed impressive
libraries attached to academic institutions. For example, Sir Thomas Bodley, an English
scholar and diplomat, established the Bodleian Library in 1598 at Oxford University, and
the library formally opened to users in 1602. The original library at Oxford was
established in the 1300s, but Bodley took it over to provide proper shelves and to add to
the collection. Bodley also arranged for copies of all books printed in England to be
deposited at the Bodleian Library. Other sites, especially those with significant
commercial activity, used private endowments to establish libraries that served Protestant
clergy, schools, and laypeople. For example, Norwich, England, established an endowed
library in 1586, and Guildford, England, established one in that same year.

Fundamental shifts in economies and political structures throughout Europe during the
16th century forced libraries to assume new practices and responsibilities. Members of
the growing middle class benefited from the emergence of capitalist economies during
this period. They soon began to demand access to information that could help them
solidify and advance their socioeconomic position. Libraries eventually became a central
source of information for most Europeans.

Europe: The 17th Through the 19th Century

By the 17th century the number of libraries had begun to increase significantly, and the
European library was beginning to take on its modern form. The monarchies of emerging
nation-states in Europe were eager to publish national bodies of literature that would be
housed in large libraries. Several court libraries were founded during this period, and
many of these later developed into national libraries. In Germany, for example, Elector
Frederich Wilhelm established a library in Berlin that later became the Prussian State
Library. In France, the Bibliothèque Nationale (now known as the Bibliothèque Nationale
de France) also began as a royal library.

Zealous book collecting during this period led to the establishment of many great private
collections. In England, the activities of book collectors laid the foundation for the
establishment of the British Museum Library, which eventually became the British
Library. Circulating libraries became popular in France, Germany, and England in the
18th and early 19th centuries, and they helped make books available to the general
public. Housed in businesses such as bookstores and grocery stores, circulating libraries
rented out books, usually the popular fiction of the day, for a small fee.

French physician and librarian Gabriel Naudé laid the foundations for the principles and
practices of modern librarianship with the publication in 1627 of his book Advice on the
Function of a Library. Naudé wrote that libraries should be well organized and should
contain books from all branches of knowledge. He greatly influenced Gottfried von
Leibniz, a 17th- and early-18th-century philosopher and mathematician who became a
librarian in Hanover, Germany. Leibniz advocated adequately staffed and well-organized
libraries that fulfill a social role much like that of a school or church.

In the 18th century the establishment of thousands of social libraries in Europe
contributed to the rise of public libraries. Groups of investors purchased stock in a social
library. These stock purchases provided the money to maintain the library for use by
subscribers. Although they were generally somewhat profitable, social libraries were
vulnerable to financial downturns in the economy. People eventually concluded that some
form of government support was necessary to provide the public with free access to
books.

By the early 19th century, libraries had spread in large numbers throughout Europe, but
communities had made little effort to act on the principles of Naudé and Leibniz. Funds
to maintain libraries were still generally inadequate, libraries had not taken steps to
systematically acquire and catalog books, and the position of librarian was still not a full-
time occupation in many countries. However, the Industrial Revolution was rapidly
changing European society in ways that boosted the development of libraries and refined
their services. With education and literacy widespread by the 19th century, the public
wanted to be able to read recreationally. To meet this demand, public libraries became
common features in most European countries between 1850 and 1900.

The Industrial Revolution, with its emphasis on science and technology, led to the rise of
the special library. Businesses, industries, research foundations, and government agencies
all saw the need to establish their own libraries that would enable them to undertake the

research and development they needed to survive in an increasingly competitive world.
By the late 19th century, libraries of all types were better financed, stocked, and staffed.
A new professionalism also emerged during this period as librarians formed
organizations to promote support for libraries and to advance the profession of
librarianship. In Britain, librarians formed the Library Association in 1877, one year after
the founding of the American Library Association.

In the 16th century the Reformation had forced the various principalities of Germany into
separate Catholic and Protestant territories. When converts to Protestantism assumed
control of formerly Catholic territories, they often plundered and sometimes destroyed
monastic libraries full of books that supported the Catholic faith. However, many texts
found their way into the libraries of controlling princes. These court libraries became
models for most German libraries for the next 200 years. In the 17th century, for
example, Duke August of Brunswick built a library in Wolfenbyüttel to house his
impressive collections. Frederick II, who was king of Prussia during the 18th century,
amassed a library of 150,000 volumes, which he organized and stored in a separate
building. By the end of the 18th century, the court library in Dresden consisted of
170,000 volumes that had been organized using a unique geographical-historical
classification scheme.

At the beginning of the 19th century Germany sought to compensate its princes for losses
suffered in the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815). Part of this compensation included the
contents of entire monastic and cathedral libraries within the ecclesiastical territories that
Napoleon had made secular in 1802. As a result, many court libraries grew tremendously.
For example, the Munich Court Library became owner of the largest collection of
incunabula (materials produced before 1501) in the world when it obtained more than
200,000 items that Bavarian monasteries and convents had been collecting and preserving
for centuries. Libraries experienced more growth when many German states began
imposing legal deposit requirements, which mandated that any author seeking to obtain a
copyright had to deposit at least one copy of the book in an archive of copyrighted works
—usually a government library. As the 19th century progressed, and as the separate
German states moved toward a unified nation, court libraries gradually transformed into
regional institutions supported by public funds.

By the time the German states unified in 1871, members of a growing middle class,
which had been given only limited access to regional libraries, had developed their own
independent reading societies and commercial lending libraries to satisfy their
information needs. These libraries provided a foundation for an early-20th-century
movement to establish public libraries.

Before the 17th century, libraries in France were private collections maintained by
religious institutions, by members of French royalty, and by a growing number of French
professionals. Eventually the general public benefited from the growth of these private
libraries. For example, in 1661 Cardinal Jules Mazarin opened his eclectic collection of
25,000 volumes “to everybody without exception.” In doing so, he created a model for

French libraries against which others were measured. Within a century France had 50
towns with public libraries.

Although some libraries suffered significant losses in the French Revolution (1789-
1799), most eventually emerged as stronger institutions. After King Louis XVI was
deposed in 1792, the new French Republic established several national libraries in Paris.
Among these was the Bibliothèque Nationale (now known as the Bibliothèque Nationale
de France), which was founded in 1795 with the collections of the royal library, the
Bibliothèque du Roi (dating from 1368). By the mid-19th century, newly established
public libraries began providing entertainment literature to the general population. About
the same time, France also witnessed the creation of school libraries; however, public and
school libraries did not develop into a widespread system until the mid-20th century.

Increased literacy in 18th-century England led to the rise of a new reading public willing
and able to pay for multiple types of reading materials. Circulating libraries, including
the popular Mudie’s Select Library in London, were commercial enterprises that rented
books to customers. Also known as commercial lending libraries, circulating libraries
offered collections of popular materials such as biographies, travel narratives, and novels.
Most issued a catalog that customers used to make their selections. Circulating libraries
radically transformed library services by welcoming women as reading patrons for the
first time in library history. The patronage of women significantly contributed to the
popularity of the circulating library. These libraries were popular well into the 19th
century.

The subscription library addressed another type of reading interest. In these libraries
several people pooled their capital to purchase a collection of books to which all
shareholders had access. The collections of subscription libraries tended to include
mostly secular works of nonfiction, and they focused especially on works identified with
the 18th-century philosophical movement known as the Enlightenment.

The first public library in England opened in Manchester in 1852, and others rapidly
spread throughout the country. In 1883 American steel magnate and philanthropist
Andrew Carnegie began providing funds for the establishment of public libraries in
England. With this infusion of money, an average of 16 public libraries were built in
England each year. By 1918 half of all library authorities in England had received
Carnegie money for the construction of buildings.

Various private organizations and learned societies established special libraries in
England, such as the library of the Society of Apothecaries (established in 1633) or the
library of The Royal Society (1660). Other British libraries benefited from government
support. For example, by the mid-19th century legal deposit laws entitled the library of
the British Museum to receive copies of every work registered for copyright in England.
These laws, coupled with new public funds, allowed the library to accelerate its growth
into the British Library, which today has one of the greatest collections in the world.

In Austria, more than 100 monastery libraries established during the Middle Ages had
been transformed into court libraries and eventually into state-supported public libraries
by the 18th century. Libraries fared much worse in Poland. Many libraries there were
destroyed by Catholic zealots during the Counter Reformation, an anti-Protestant
movement of the 16th and 17th centuries. In addition, Swedish armies destroyed libraries
in the Polish cities of Kraków, Warsaw, and others during the 17th century. Finally,
between 1795 and 1918 invading Russian and German armies stole freely from Polish
collections as they advanced and retreated in wars fought over Polish territory. Poland
was unable to establish a national library until 1928, long after most other European
countries had founded national libraries.

The earliest Russian libraries were established by cathedrals and monasteries as early as
the 11th century. By the 18th century a few wealthy Russians had also amassed large
book collections. Russian tsar Peter the Great founded the country’s first research library,
at the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1724. During the late 18th century Empress
Catherine the Great expanded Russia’s library holdings by increasing the size of many
existing collections and by establishing several new state-supported libraries. By the end
of the 19th century several Russian libraries housed multimillion-volume collections,
including the Imperial Public Library (now the National Library of Russia) in Saint
Petersburg. After the Russian Revolution in 1917, numerous academic, research, and
public libraries developed throughout the various republics of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics.

Europe in the Early 20th Century

By the early 20th century librarianship in Europe had emerged as a distinct profession,
and a wide range of library services were in place. National libraries regularly received
copies of all books printed in their country as a condition of copyright protection for
authors. Well-stocked and efficient university libraries served the academic needs of
students and scholars. Public libraries provided recreational and instructional material for
patrons in most urban communities. Newly founded special libraries also made up-to-date
information available on science and business. However, European library development
remained uneven, especially in eastern and southern Europe. Libraries there continued to
receive inadequate support and the public had difficulty getting access to books and
library services.

Many European countries escaped the damage of World War I (1914-1918), but World
War II (1939-1945) had a profound effect on hundreds of libraries. Public libraries in
large English cities such as Bristol, Liverpool, Birmingham, and Manchester suffered
great losses, and libraries in smaller cities lost some or all of their collections. The British
Museum Library lost many irreplaceable items when German planes shelled a building
wing that housed some 110,000 books and 30,000 volumes of bound newspapers. At the
same time, Allied aerial bombing raids destroyed library buildings and collections in
Germany, especially those at Kassel, Dresden, and Stuttgart. Some countries, such as
France, Belgium, and Denmark, fell to Germany relatively early in the war, and so their

libraries escaped serious war damage. For further information about European libraries in
the 20th century, see the Libraries of the World section of this article.

I
. Asia

Library development in Asia followed patterns similar to those in Europe. In much of
Asia the earliest documented libraries were connected with temples and centers of
religious learning. Those libraries developed primarily in the period that roughly
corresponds to the European Middle Ages. In most countries, religious libraries coexisted
with royal and court libraries, but all libraries were restricted to just a few users.

1
. China

During the Shang dynasty (1570?-1045? BC) in what is now China, many archival
collections consisted of official records inscribed on sacred bones, tortoiseshell, and
pieces of bronze. In the 3rd century BC, Qin Shihuangdi founded the Qin dynasty and
became the first emperor of a unified China. To solidify his power, he ordered his
subjects to destroy all historical works that disagreed with Qin history and philosophy,
including classics by Chinese philosopher Confucius.

Censorship of Chinese literature was lifted during the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220),
when Chinese officials created three imperial libraries and directed each to restore and
reproduce texts that previous rulers had ordered destroyed. Fortunately, many of the texts
had survived the Qin dynasty because their owners had hidden them from censoring
government officials. Reproduction of books became much easier after AD 105, when
paper was introduced in China. By that time China had already produced its first catalogs
of library collections and had developed a standardized classification scheme. Over
subsequent centuries, Chinese artisans also became expert in wood-block printing, which
facilitated the rapid reproduction of the ancient Buddhist texts. These texts
characteristically dominated the many private libraries that flourished during the Tang
dynasty (AD 618-907).

After a period of decline, Chinese libraries steadily expanded during the Qing dynasty
(1644-1911). However, military threats from Western nations and the Opium Wars
(1839-1842, 1856-1860) periodically diverted national attention from library
development. China first began to establish public libraries in the early 20th century, but
when Japanese troops occupied the country from 1937 to 1945, these libraries lost 2.7
million volumes, almost half of China’s total book stock.

2 Japan
.

Libraries in ancient Japan were concentrated in Buddhist temples. In the 7th century AD,
Prince Shikoku increased collections at more than 500 temple libraries by contributing
Confucian classics and sacred Buddhist texts. By the beginning of the 8th century, Japan
had established a national library to collect and copy imperial documents. Like libraries
elsewhere in the world at this time, however, Japan’s national library permitted only elite
members of society to access its collections. Access to Japanese libraries remained
limited for hundreds of years. In the 14th century, for example, a renowned library near
Tokyo called the Kanazawa Bunko allowed only priests, scholars, and samurai (members
of the warrior class) to consult its collections of more than 25,000 texts.

Private libraries were the most extensive collections in Japan during the rule of the
Tokugawa shogunate of the Edo period, from 1603 to 1867. With the return of imperial
rule in the late 19th century, however, Japan adopted several Western institutions as
models for library development. Because the new government embraced the idea that
libraries were essential to modernization, Japan initiated an extensive public-library
construction effort. However, bombing raids and economic devastation caused by World
War II (1939-1945) brought significant losses to Japanese libraries, particularly those
located in urban areas.

3
. India

The earliest libraries in ancient India were maintained by royal palaces, but historians
know very little about them. By the 13th century, India supported libraries in royal
palaces, temples, and universities. Use of each of these types of libraries was limited to
elite members of society.

During the nearly two centuries that Britain controlled India (1757-1947), the British-
owned East India Company made numerous financial contributions to university
libraries. This financial assistance stimulated library development in Indian universities
that used British academic libraries as models. Other types of libraries in India also
looked to Great Britain for models of library development. For example, an 1867 legal
deposit law required all Indian authors to provide copies of their books to the Kolkata
Public Library in order to receive copyright protection for their work. As a result, the
library’s collection grew rapidly. The Calcutta Public Library amalgamated with the
Imperial Library in 1903 and in 1948 it became the National Library of India. In addition,
subscription and circulating libraries established during the 19th century by English
colonists gradually evolved into an Indian public library system in the 20th century.

J. Early Islamic Libraries

Illustrated Text of the Qur’an

In the Middle East, followers of the prophet Muhammad compiled written records of his
teachings and revelations, and transcribed them onto papyrus codices a few years after his
death in AD 632. These manuscripts became known as the Qur’an (Koran) and the
Hadith, and they quickly became the centerpieces of the Islamic religion (see Islam).
Muslims (followers of Islam) were encouraged to read the Qur’an regularly and to
memorize substantial portions of the text. As Islam spread throughout the Middle East in
subsequent centuries, Muslims established libraries (also known as maktabat, madrassas,
or schools) of sacred writings in their mosques.

In the late 7th century Mu’awiyah I, the governor of Syria and the first caliph (religious
and secular leader) of the Islamic Umayyad dynasty, reorganized his extensive personal
library by modeling it on the library of Alexandria in Egypt. In the early 8th century one
of Mu’awiyah’s successors improved and enlarged the library. He also appointed a
curator of books to maintain a collection of hundreds of manuscripts, including works on
chemistry, medicine, astrology, and military science.

Libraries grew quickly throughout the Middle East in the 8th century after Muslims
adopted methods of making paper that they learned from the Chinese. After the Abbasids
took control of large segments of the eastern Umayyad empire in 750, Abbasid caliph
Abū Ja’far al-Mansūr ordered classical Greek, Latin, Persian, and Indian works translated
into Arabic. The Umayyads, who had retained control of western portions of their empire
and the Iberian Peninsula, developed large libraries and book markets in 10th-century
Baghdād (in what is now Iraq) and in Cordoba, Spain. European Christian monks
frequented the collections of 400,000 books in the Cordoba library in search of new texts.
Among the Arab collections, the Europeans discovered translations of ancient texts they
had previously thought were lost, including works by Greek mathematician Euclid, Greek
philosopher Aristotle, Egyptian mathematician and astronomer Ptolemy, and Roman
physician Galen.

Some of the most famous Islamic madrassas included Baitul ‘Ilam (House of Learning),
established in about 988 in Cairo, Egypt; Baitul Hikma in Baghdād, Iraq, in the 9th
century; and Al-Zaituna Mosque-University, founded in Tunisia in the 15th century. Al-
Azhar was founded in Cairo in 970 and today is the oldest existing university in the world
(Al-Azhar, University of). In Saudi Arabia, most of the libraries were founded in Mecca
(Makkah) and Medina (Medinat-en-Nabi). These libraries became noted for their
collections of manuscripts and rare books dating from the early Islamic period.

K.
South America

In 1551 Spanish colonists established the University of San Marcos in Lima, Peru, and
today its library is the oldest in the western hemisphere. For the next three centuries, the

most extensive libraries on the continent were maintained by monasteries and convents of
the Roman Catholic Church. In Bolivia, for example, the Catholic Church used its
monastery libraries to help teach the principles of Christianity to the Native American
population and to help educate Spanish-born leaders and their children. Many wealthy
individuals in South America also held significant private libraries.

Most South American countries established national libraries following their
independence from Spain (or Portugal, in the case of Brazil) in the 19th century. These
national libraries developed many of their collections from the works brought to South
America by Spanish and Portuguese colonists or by Catholic missionaries. In Chile, for
example, collections at the national library, established in 1813, benefited significantly
from libraries confiscated from Jesuit monasteries. The Brazilian national library,
founded in 1910, was established with book and document collections brought by
Portuguese royalty who had fled Napoleon in the early 19th century.

L.
United States and Canada

Most immigrants to colonial North America came from England and France.
Accordingly, libraries in the United States and Canada are rooted in the traditions of
English and French libraries. Because many Europeans immigrated to the colonies of
North America in search of religious freedom, most books brought by early settlers were
religious works intended to nourish their spiritual needs. Settlers also brought medical
texts that described treatments for physical ailments.

A lack of leisure time prevented the first colonists from establishing libraries where they
could read secular texts. Additionally, unlike the cities of Europe, the earliest North
American settlements had few wealthy aristocrats willing to patronize the arts. For these
reasons, the colonists did not establish publicly accessible libraries for several
generations.

The earliest library north of the Rio Grande River, the Jesuit Mission Library, was
established in Québec (then called New France) in 1632. The collections included books
of medicine, botany, and religion. It became the library of the Collège des Jésuites when
the school was founded in 1635. The second library in North America was established in
1638, when Massachusetts clergyman John Harvard donated several hundred books
toward the founding of a college in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The college adopted the
name of its benefactor to become Harvard College (later Harvard University) and used
Harvard’s bequest of books to form the core of its library collection.

Libraries in 17th-century North America were typically private collections that belonged
to clergy or physicians, and they usually did not exceed 50 to 100 volumes. There were
several notable exceptions, among them the more than 1,000 books that Connecticut
governor John Winthrop had amassed by 1639 and the more than 4,000 volumes that

Puritan theologian Cotton Mather of Massachusetts and political leader William Byrd of
Virginia had each collected by the early 1700s.

Several people tried to provide greater access to the private collections in colonial North
America. In 1653 Massachusetts merchant Captain Robert Keayne bequeathed part of his
private library to the city of Boston with the stipulation that the city construct an
appropriate facility for it. The city built the Boston Town House in 1657 to house
Keayne’s collection, but the library was open only to paying subscribers. In 1698 the city
of Charleston, South Carolina, claimed the honor of establishing the first library in the
colonial United States supported mainly by public funds.

To convert Native Americans to Christianity and to combat what he perceived as heresy
among Quakers, Anglican minister Thomas Bray established more than 70 libraries of
carefully selected materials in the colonies between 1695 and 1704. Five of these were
located in large cities to serve entire regions; the rest were established in churches where
they were made available for parishioners. Although several colonial legislatures passed
laws to maintain the Bray libraries, they did not allow for the replacement of volumes as
the original collections wore out. As a result, the libraries fell into disuse not long after
Bray’s death in 1730.

Different types of libraries developed in North America to serve the various needs of a
diverse population. The following sections profile the development of the most prominent
types of North American libraries.

1
. Society Libraries

As early as 1728, Pennsylvania printer, scientist, and author Benjamin Franklin and 11
others in the Junto, an intellectual discussion group, pooled their private libraries together
into one commonly used collection. The enterprise failed, but the experience inspired
Franklin to establish in 1731 the Library Company of Philadelphia, the country’s first
society library (also known as a social library). People wishing to join the Library
Company’s society of readers could buy shares of the company’s stock. The library then
used these funds to buy books that all society members could access. This structure,
similar to the structure of subscription libraries in Britain, became a prototype for
hundreds of society libraries later established in the United States and Canada. Society
libraries still in operation include the Redwood Library and Athenaeum in Newport,
Rhode Island; the Charleston Society Library in Charleston, South Carolina; and the
original Library Company in Philadelphia.

Society libraries thrived in North America from about 1750 to 1850. They filled the
needs of an increasingly urbanized, sophisticated public by providing collections
containing mostly biographies, philosophy, and travel narratives. Some society libraries
eventually began inviting nonshareholders to pay an annual fee for the privilege of
accessing the library’s collection. These came to be known as subscription libraries in

North America, although their willingness to admit nonshareholders distinguished them
from the subscription libraries in Britain. Other North American society libraries, which
became known as athenaeums, issued expensive stocks to fund not only the purchase of
books, but also the purchase of periodicals and the presentation of cultural events.

Canada’s first subscription library was a bilingual collection in French and English. It
was established in 1779 in Québec City by the British governor of Québec, Sir Frederick
Haldimand. However, the library’s rates were too high to attract any but the wealthiest
citizens. The present-day Montréal Public Library in Québec was first established as a
subscription library in 1796. Ontario’s first subscription collection opened in 1800 in
Niagara-on-the-Lake, and it too eventually became a public library.

Some society and subscription libraries attracted controversy. In Québec, volunteers
established a society library known as the Library and Reading Room of the Canadian
Institute in 1844. The library came under attack by the Catholic Church in the late 1860s
for making available books condemned by the Church’s Index of Forbidden Books. The
library was disbanded in 1880 under pressure from the Catholic Church.

Industries and trade groups sponsored the formation of mercantile libraries, which were
essentially society libraries that offered collections designed to improve the skills of
factory workers, clerks, and apprentices. Also called mechanics’ institutes, they played a
particularly significant role in the history of public library service in Canada. The first
Canadian mechanics’ institute appeared in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in 1827, followed
the next year by one in Montréal. Mercantile libraries also served workers in the United
States in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. They offered courses of instruction and
books of practical value as well as works of intellectual and aesthetic interest.

2
. Public Libraries

During the 19th century increased industrialization and urbanization contributed to a
growing middle class. Members of the middle class were determined to protect and
extend their newfound economic status by gaining better access to information. Faced
with a wave of unskilled immigrants to the cities from rural areas as well as from
overseas, the middle class began championing universal literacy and mandatory
attendance at public schools. These sentiments echoed the popular political belief that a
democratic government could function effectively only when the citizenry was capable of
making informed choices. Increasingly, Americans and Canadians came to believe that
libraries could be an effective means of informing the public.

Despite widespread popular support for public libraries, communities still struggled to
establish funding mechanisms for them. Indiana passed legislation authorizing the
formation of county library systems in 1816, but it was the small community of
Peterborough, New Hampshire, that established the first tax-supported local public
library in the United States, in 1833. Two years later New York became the first state to

give its school districts the power to tax citizens for public library service. By 1850
public libraries in New York school districts held some 1.5 million books. The successes
of this funding mechanism led several other states to pass similar laws. In 1851 the
Canadian government passed the Common School Act of United Canada, which followed
the New York model of using taxes in local school districts to fund public libraries.
Although vestiges of this system continue in isolated pockets throughout North America,
the school-district approach to funding libraries ultimately failed because most
lawmakers did not appropriate adequate funds for staff, suitable buildings, and
acquisition of library materials.

a.Boston Public Library

The Boston Public Library, established in 1848, became the preeminent model for
modern public library service in North America. American scholar and educator George
Ticknor served on the first board of the library. Ticknor had studied overseas and was
familiar with the closed stacks of the great European libraries, which prohibited users
from removing library materials from the building. Ticknor proposed that the new Boston
institution allow patrons to borrow popular titles for use outside the facility at no charge,
in addition to housing a noncirculating scholarly collection for reference. The popularity
of Boston’s circulation policy eventually set the standard for circulation at public libraries
in the United States and Canada.

b. New York Public Library

Main Reading Room of New York Public Library

Main Reading Room of New York Public Library
The Main Reading Room is the central workspace for patrons of the New York
Public Library’s Center for the Humanities. First opened to the public in 1911, the
room received a $15 million renovation in 1998 that restored many architectural
details to their original splendor.
Stephanie Maze/Woodfin Camp and Associates, Inc.

Full Size

Before New York City established its extensive public library system, the city had a
number of circulating libraries and mercantile libraries that served the public. New York
was also home to two notable private research collections: the Astor Library and the
Lenox Library. They were both open to the public, but not at hours convenient for
working people.

The New York Public Library was established in 1895 with funds from a trust provided
by American political leader Samuel J. Tilden. The trust was sufficient to combine the
resources of the Astor and Lenox libraries to form the foundation of the new public
library’s noncirculating reference department. The circulation department was established
when the library consolidated with The New York Free Circulating Library in 1901.
Later that same year, the library received a major grant from steel magnate Andrew
Carnegie enabling it to contract with the City of New York to establish 39 so-called
Carnegie branches in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. The New York Public
Library eventually grew to include an administrative center, 4 research libraries, and 82
branch libraries, forming the largest public library system in North America. It is also the
largest research library in the world to have a circulating system. For more information
on the New York Public Library’s research centers, see the subsection Research
Libraries in the Types of Libraries section of this article.

c.Midwestern Public Libraries

In the Midwestern United States, public libraries grew with the expansion of commerce
and land values in the region. The Chicago Public Library in Illinois was just getting
under way when a great fire in 1871 destroyed its collection. The library was quickly
rebuilt, however, with assistance from people across the United States and also in
England. In 1907 the children’s room of Chicago Public Library’s Central Library was
renamed The Thomas Hughes Room in recognition of the efforts of English author
Thomas Hughes in collecting books for the restored library.

The Cleveland Public Library in Ohio was established in 1869. Under the leadership of
William Howard Brett (director from 1884 to 1918) and his successor Linda Ann
Eastman (director from 1918 to 1938), the Cleveland Public Library developed several
innovations to bring service to the entire community. For example, it achieved notable
success in extending specialized services to immigrants, hospital patients, children, and
business people.

The flowering of public libraries across the United States during the late 19th century was
greatly stimulated by the generosity of American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie.
Between 1881 and his death in 1919, Carnegie donated millions of dollars to English-
speaking countries worldwide for the construction of library buildings. Carnegie’s

philanthropy also inspired other wealthy benefactors to contribute to the establishment of
public library services.

Carnegie attached certain conditions to his donations, and these conditions helped
popularize the idea that public library service is rightfully a government function. Before
giving to a community, Carnegie stipulated that local authorities agree to maintain the
library building in perpetuity. He also required them to tax community residents annually
to fund the library’s operation. Many civic organizations, most notably women’s groups,
lobbied local authorities in communities throughout the United States to accept
Carnegie’s challenge, and soon cities and towns established funding mechanisms to
maintain public libraries. As a result, the number of public libraries surged in the late
19th and early 20th centuries, growing from 188 libraries in 1876 to 3,873 libraries by
1923.

e.Canadian Public Libraries

Canadian public libraries also multiplied in the late 19th century, especially after
provinces passed legislation to support them with public funds. In 1882 Ontario became
the first province to authorize tax-supported libraries, and two years later the city of
Toronto established the Toronto Public Library. Over the years, other provinces also
passed legislation to support public libraries. In 1959 Québec become the last province to
approve tax support for free public libraries.

f
New Funding Mechanisms
.

Gradually, public libraries sought new ways to obtain funding for their operations. Many
of these efforts were led by the American Library Association, established in 1876 to
advocate for libraries and to advance the profession of librarianship. In the early 20th
century library advocates and public officials strove to develop more effective funding
mechanisms for library services in sparsely populated areas. These efforts led to the
development of county library systems and later to multicounty and regional library
systems throughout the United States. Officials in Canada also concluded that regional
library systems could best serve the widely scattered populations throughout the upper
two-thirds of that country.

Public library use rose dramatically during the first half of the 20th century as
unprecedented numbers of immigrants and displaced workers sought to acquire new
skills with the help of library collections and services. To meet this growing demand,
library officials at the state level teamed with members of the American Library
Association to secure federal funding for U.S. libraries. The United States government
responded to these efforts by passing the 1956 Library Services Act (LSA), which
provided federal support for rural libraries throughout the country. The Library Services
Act provided assistance for public library service to communities with a population of
less than 10,000 and covered all services other than building construction. The federal
government later extended this support to urban libraries with the 1964 successor to the

LSA, the Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA). LSCA-funded provisions have
included a range of services for U.S. libraries, including construction projects, literacy
training, and staff development.

In the mid- and late 1960s the administration of U.S. president Lyndon Johnson further
extended federal support to libraries through a group of legislative programs collectively
known as the Great Society. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the
Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965, and the Higher Education Acts of 1965 and
1966 all directed federal aid to libraries.

However, economic downturns in the 1970s increased public reluctance to pay for
government programs through taxes. As a result, library development stalled at a time
when most libraries’ budgets were being strained by the addition of new technologies
such as audiovisual and digital materials. In some communities, public libraries closed
due to a lack of adequate funds. Libraries suffered perhaps the greatest budgetary
constraints in California, where voters approved a property-tax cap in 1978. Challenges
to library funding continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s, even as demand for public
library service continued to rise. According to a 1995 Gallup poll, 67 percent of
Americans reported that they had used a public library within the previous 12 months, up
from just 51 percent in 1978.

Despite ongoing struggles to secure adequate funding, public libraries are confronted by
demands for increased services, particularly high-speed Internet access. Providing the
latest technological advances is beyond the means of many public library systems,
however. As a result, public libraries throughout North America increasingly turn to
private sources for additional funding. For more information, see the Trends and
Challenges section of this article.

3
. Government
Libraries

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, was the principal
founder of the Library of Congress. His personal library provided the core of the
library’s early collection. Jefferson’s vast range of interests also determined the
universal and diverse scope of the library’s collections and activities.
Hulton Deutsch

Full Size

The United States Congress established the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., in
1800. Despite strong initial support from the federal government, particularly from U.S.
president Thomas Jefferson, the library’s collections were relatively modest during its
first several decades of existence. However, the collections experienced significantly
accelerated growth after 1870, when Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford
persuaded Congress to revise and centralize the nation’s legal deposit law. The new law
stipulated that two copies of every work registered for copyright in the United States
must be deposited in the library. Collections expanded so rapidly thereafter that Congress
had to build a separate structure across the street from the Capitol building. The Library
of Congress moved into its new quarters in 1897.

The scope of the library’s services greatly expanded under the leadership of Herbert
Putnam, librarian of Congress from 1899 to 1939. Putnam initiated programs to produce,
sell, and distribute catalog cards in the newly developed Library of Congress
Classification system; to develop national union catalogs that compile the catalogs of
selected libraries throughout the country; and to standardize interlibrary loan procedures
among the nation’s libraries. Since the 1930s the Library of Congress has continued to
expand its national activities while also developing an increased international presence.
During the 1950s the library greatly increased its collections of research materials from
foreign countries, and by 1980 the library expanded into a third building. Today, the
library’s National Digital Library program provides remote access through the Internet to
more than 400,000 digital files in the library’s collections.

The federal government also established the National Library of Medicine in 1836 and
the National Library of Agriculture in 1862. The government established the National
Library of Education in 1994 as part of a school reform law entitled Goals 2000: Educate
America Act.

4
. School
Libraries

The first school libraries in the United States and Canada opened in the 18th century in
elite private schools. Most schools lacked their own libraries until the 19th century, when
local governments first established publicly funded school systems. In 1835 the New
York State legislature passed the nation’s first school-district library legislation. This
legislation provided tax-supported library service for the entire population within the
jurisdiction of each school district. This funding mechanism soon spread throughout the
United States and Canada, and school districts established their own libraries for their
communities. Most of these libraries were located in rooms within the school that were
not used for the instruction of students. Although their primary mission was to serve the
general public, these libraries also offered limited services to students.

By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, educational leaders increasingly advocated the
creation of school libraries that would support the general curriculum of the schools the
libraries served and would be available only to students and teachers. Seeking greater
autonomy for school library services, the National Education Association of the United
States (NEA) pressed for the separate funding, staffing, and administration of school
libraries as early as 1912. Along with the National Council of Teachers of English and
the American Library Association, the NEA established quality standards for high school
libraries that stipulated appropriate collections, services, and facilities. School boards
began to endorse these standards in 1920, and most high schools eventually established
quality library collections, hired librarians, and created recommended reading lists for
students. Elementary schools during this period generally lacked formal libraries for their
students.

The growth of school libraries temporarily slowed during the economic collapse of the
1930s and the outbreak of World War II in 1939. After the end of the war in 1945,
however, high school libraries in many communities of the United States and Canada
gained more public funds, and elementary schools finally began to establish libraries of
their own. Nevertheless, in the 1950s many school libraries were in poor condition, and
as late as 1962 one-half of all public schools were without libraries.

Libraries became much more prevalent in schools beginning in the mid-1960s. The
introduction to the classroom of audio and visual media such as filmstrips was especially
influential in stimulating this spread of school libraries. By the late 1960s school libraries
continued to provide traditional printed materials, but they had also evolved into media
centers that collected, maintained, and circulated films, filmstrips, and audio recordings.
In the United States, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 earmarked
federal funds for schools and school libraries. By providing substantial aid for new
library quarters, equipment, and the hiring of trained librarians, the act further spurred the
development of libraries in schools throughout the country. Elementary and secondary
schools also benefited from the Higher Education Acts of 1965 and 1966, which provided
funds for the education of school librarians.

By 1978, 85 percent of the 83,044 public schools in the United States had a library or
media center. Nearly 50 percent of these school libraries reported holdings of between
5,000 and 9,000 volumes. Still, in 1978 almost 3 million students attended schools
without a library or media center.

Since the 1970s, school libraries have struggled to provide state-of-the-art information
resources. Despite widespread recognition of the benefits of school libraries, public funds
often prove inadequate for schools to hire professional staff, develop new collections, or
modernize facilities. As a result, many elementary and secondary school libraries have
closed, and the materials of many other school libraries are seriously out of date. Those
that have remained open have often survived by hiring library workers who lack
professional credentials. These workers usually report to trained media specialists who
supervise entire districts. In some areas, such as Scottsdale, Arizona, and New Orleans,

Louisiana, public officials reestablished libraries that served both the schools and the
general public in the hope of saving money by eliminating any duplication of services.

In the 1990s educational leaders and library advocates attempted to counter these trends
by mounting new development efforts to provide school libraries with current materials
and connections to the Internet. Some of these efforts have been successful. For example,
in 1997 students at 78 percent of U.S. public schools had access to the Internet, up from
35 percent in 1994. In 1999 the National Center for Educational Statistics estimated that
95 percent of U.S. public schools would have Internet access by 2000.

5
. College and University Libraries

Library collections in institutions of higher education north of Mexico date from 1635,
when the library for the Collège des Jésuites was established in Québec. The Jesuit
college no longer exists, but some books from the library’s collection now belong to the
library of Université Laval in Sainte-Foy, Québec. In 1638 English clergyman John
Harvard donated some 300 hundred books to a fledgling college in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. Administrators of the college later decided to name the school Harvard
College (now Harvard University) in honor of its benefactor.

a.Early Collections

The small collections of library materials in the colleges of colonial North America
provided limited services to their users. In the 17th and 18th centuries North American
colleges relied heavily on monetary donations and gifts of books from private collectors.
These collectors often favored theological works, so academic libraries found themselves
with collections that focused on limited subjects. Most libraries also kept irregular hours
because they were usually managed by a single faculty member who supervised the
collection in addition to teaching in the classroom. Academic libraries provided very
limited access to their collections. They extended borrowing privileges only to those
whom the librarian deemed worthy—usually faculty members and occasionally advanced
students, but almost never first- or second-year students. To gain access to written
materials, students on many campuses formed their own literary-society libraries, some
of which were eventually incorporated by the academic libraries of the 19th century.

In the second half of the 19th century administrators at many colleges and universities
enhanced academic library budgets to better meet the growing needs of faculty and
students. Until this period, colleges and universities usually had required all of their
students to follow a fixed course of study. Because the typical college curriculum focused
on reading an established set of classical texts, the limited collections of academic
libraries were often adequate to meet these needs. This pattern changed when Harvard
president Charles William Eliot began his tenure at the university in 1869 and allowed
students to take elective courses. Other American colleges soon followed Harvard’s

elective-course model, making subject departments more responsive to individual student
interests. To support this broader curriculum, the college library collections needed to
include more diverse materials. Also, universities in the United States were beginning to
employ professors, like Eliot, who had studied in research-oriented German universities.
These professors came to American institutions and demanded libraries with better
research facilities for themselves and their students.

b
Expansion
.

By the late 19th century library hours began to increase, and collections grew both in
depth of coverage and in diversity of topics. Academic libraries stored their general
collections in centralized locations for access by undergraduates majoring in different
specialties. The libraries generally clustered more specific collections into departmental
libraries for graduate study. In the 20th century academic librarians devised a closed
reserve system, which removed from circulation certain heavily used materials so that
users could be certain of gaining access to the materials on the shelves.

College enrollments swelled in the United States after World War II (1939-1945).
Unprecedented numbers of veterans gained access to higher education through the
provisions of the GI Bill, which paid their college tuition (see Department of Veterans
Affairs: The GI Bill). As academic libraries struggled to serve an expanded clientele,
their budgets became increasingly strained. The federal government provided assistance
with the 1965 Higher Education Act, which provided grants for acquisitions and new
facilities.

A postwar economic boom in Canada affected the size and diversity of academic libraries
there as well. College and university students demonstrated a renewed interest in
professional training, and this interest fostered the development of postgraduate
education programs and the libraries to sustain this new scholarship. The vast majority of
Canadian colleges and universities were publicly funded, and provincial and federal
governments provided libraries with extensive financial support during the economically
prosperous 1960s. These funds stimulated a building boom and a surge in the size of
academic library collections and staffs throughout the country.

Like the United States, however, Canada experienced a series of economic recessions
beginning in the 1970s and lasting into the 1980s. This period of recession resulted in
shrinking financial support for college and university libraries. The libraries coped with
these budgetary constraints by strengthening cooperation between institutions, sharing
cataloging responsibilities, establishing reciprocal borrowing agreements, and creating
interlibrary loan networks. In the meantime, library operation costs continued to escalate
in both the United States and Canada. The price of subscriptions to scholarly journals had
become especially high, causing difficulties for academic libraries as they struggled to
stay within their limited budgets. Academic libraries tried to withstand these difficulties
in the 1980s and 1990s by pooling their buying strengths into local networks. Member
libraries collectively purchased scholarly articles through a supplier and then distributed

these articles among themselves. By the mid-1990s nearly all campus libraries in the
United States and Canada provided Internet access, which provided still greater access to
scholarly materials through interlibrary networks.

6
. Private and Research Libraries

As do libraries elsewhere in the world, libraries in the United States and Canada owe a
great debt to private book collectors who donated their personal libraries to institutions
for wider use. A few of these collections formed the core of respected independent
research libraries. However, most ended up in public or academic libraries. For example,
the private library of American financier John Pierpont Morgan was made into the
Pierpont Morgan Library, a public research library in New York. More recently, in 1983
the Lilly Library of Indiana University acquired the 10,000-volume children’s book
collection of Elisabeth Ball, daughter of a successful glass manufacturer in Muncie,
Indiana.

Large numbers of book collectors and benefactors in the United States and Canada
established private research libraries in reaction to the public library movement of the late
19th and early 20th centuries. Many started the private libraries because they were
concerned that public collections would lack the resources needed by serious scholars
who did not have access to a university library. The private research libraries generally
contained extensive scholarly materials on specific subjects. Many of the most notable
research libraries in the United States are privately funded institutions. These include the
Newberry Library, founded in Chicago, Illinois, and named after business leader and
book collector Walter L. Newberry in 1887; the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and
Botanical Gardens, started in 1919 by American railway magnate Henry Huntington in
San Marino, California; and the Folger Shakespeare Library, which was formed in 1932
in Washington, D.C., from the collection of American industrialist Henry Clay Folger.
Private libraries established later in the century include the George C. Marshall Research
Library, founded in Lexington, Virginia, in 1964, and the Historic New Orleans
Collection, started in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1966 from local documents and artifacts
collected by General L. Kemper Williams and Leila Moore Williams.

X.
LIBRARIES OF THE WORLD

Virtually every region of the world maintains libraries. Countries with well-developed
economies, strong educational institutions, and advanced technological infrastructures
tend to have the most libraries. The libraries in these countries generally have
comprehensive, up-to-date collections and collectively serve relatively large numbers of
people. Developing countries also maintain libraries, although the libraries in these
countries frequently feature small, out-of-date collections and lack professionally trained

staff members. Despite these disadvantages, the governments of many developing
countries place the construction of new libraries and the maintenance of existing libraries
among their top national priorities.

This section contains information on modern libraries in countries other than the United
States and Canada. For information on modern U.S. and Canadian libraries, see the
following subsections in the Types of Libraries section of this article: Public Libraries;
School Libraries; College and University Libraries; Research Libraries; Special
Libraries; and Government Libraries.

A.
Western Europe

The countries of western Europe have a wide range of public, private, academic, and
other libraries, each with their own unique features and history. Britain and the
Scandinavian countries have extensive networks of public libraries, because free access
to libraries is required by law in these countries. Most western European countries, with
the exception of Switzerland and The Netherlands, require authors to deposit publications
in the national libraries in order to receive copyright protection. School libraries have
been integrated into elementary and secondary education in Scandinavia since the 19th
century. Elsewhere in western Europe, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom have
the most fully developed school libraries. School libraries remain almost nonexistent in
southern Europe.

1
. German
y

After World War II ended in 1945, Germany was divided into separate eastern and
western zones. The nations of East Germany and West Germany were formed in 1949,
and each operated libraries independently of one another. Nevertheless, both countries
developed strong national library systems. In 1990 the two zones of Germany reunited
and the library model of West Germany became the standard throughout the country.

Today, the German national library consists of the combined collections and services of
three separate libraries: the Deutsche Bibliothek in Leipzig and in Frankfurt am Main, the
German State Library in Berlin, and the Bavarian State Library in Munich. Scientific
literature is divided among libraries in Hanover (for technology and applied science),
Cologne (medicine), Kiel (economics), and Bonn (agriculture). Approximately 80
academic libraries are affiliated with universities in Berlin, Frankfurt, Göttingen, and
elsewhere. The 16 German states are served by regional library systems. Public libraries
in the urban centers maintain extensive collections with large professional staffs; those in
remote rural communities provide minimal service and are rarely directed by professional
staff members.

2. France

Bibliothèque Nationale de France

France rapidly developed its public library system in the early 20th century. By 1940
France had a network of 300 public libraries with collections that served popular and
scholarly interests. Although spared from destruction by the occupying German army
during World War II, public libraries in the postwar era developed slowly. By the late
20th century, however, France had increased its investment in public libraries. It now
maintains an extensive system of public libraries and is home to some of the finest
academic and special libraries in the world.

French libraries, which date from the 7th century, have always been marked by strong
centralized administrative control. The national library—the Bibliothèque Nationale de
France, in Paris—is the largest and most important library collection in France. It is also
the oldest national library in Europe. The core of the library’s original collection came
from the Bibliothèque du Roi (Royal Library), which was established in 1368. Today, the
library’s collections are located in two locations: at the original site on the Rue de
Richelieu, in the center of Paris, and at a new site in the Tolbiac region of southeast Paris.
The Richelieu site houses manuscripts, engravings, photographs, maps, coins and medals,
and other materials. The Tolbiac site, which opened to the public in 1997, contains the
library’s printed materials, periodicals, and audiovisual materials. In addition to the
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the libraries of the Universities of Paris, which date
from the late 14th century, contain some of the most extensive scholarly collections in the
world.

3. United Kingdom

British Library at Saint Pancras

The British library system has had a major impact on libraries worldwide, particularly
those of its former colonies. The emergence of a strong British economy in the 17th
century fostered a reading public with an interest in books, and by the next century
libraries had become an integral part of the nation’s cultural life. Library buildings that
were destroyed or badly damaged by bombing raids during World War II have been
replaced by much improved facilities.Today, citizens have access to any library book in
the British Isles, thanks to a national unified library system established with the founding
of the national British Library in London in 1973. The British Library was formed from
four major national institutions: the British Museum Library (founded in 1757), the
National Central Library (1916), the British National Bibliography (1950), and the
National Lending Library for Science and Technology (1961). The British Library’s
collection of rare books and manuscripts—originally part of the British Museum’s
collection—is one of the most valuable in the world. In 1997 the British Library moved
to a new facility in the Saint Pancras area of London. Britain’s two other national library
systems are the National Library of Scotland and the National Library of Wales. The
academic libraries at the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, the
University of London, and Edinburgh University are among the finest in world.

4
. Greece

As early as the 500s BC, leaders in ancient Greece founded the first libraries in the
Western world that were open to the general public. However, modern Greece has been
slow to develop an effective modern library system. Greece provides relatively little
funding for libraries, so collections in the country’s public libraries tend to be small and
out-of-date. Greek libraries also generally lack the resources necessary to provide users
with access to the Internet and other new technologies. Greece’s National Library, in
Athens, was constructed in the late 1800s. The building was based on a neoclassical
design by Danish architect Theophile Hansen. The National Library maintains collections
of more than 2.5 million volumes.

5
. Italy

Libraries in Italy are among the oldest in the Western world, and historically they have
played an important role in library development, particularly during the Middle Ages and
the Renaissance. The Vatican Library, conceived by Pope Nicholas V in 1451 “for the
common convenience of the learned,” is located in Vatican City. It contains nearly 2
million books and periodicals, including more than 8,000 incunabula (materials produced
before 1501) and 75,000 Latin, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and other manuscripts
dating from as early as the 2nd century AD. It also contains one of the three oldest-known
Bible manuscripts in the world. The Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence also has
a magnificent collection of manuscripts. The library building was designed and built
during the Renaissance by Italian artist Michelangelo to house the collection begun by
the powerful Medici family.

Libraries in Italy declined for centuries, but in 1980 the Italian government began an
effort to improve library services by creating a national bibliographic system designed to
conserve and expand on national library collections. Italy maintains two major national
libraries—one in Florence (founded 1747) and the other in Rome (1875)—as well as
smaller national libraries in Milan, Naples, Palermo, Turin, and Venice. The Biblioteca
Nazionale Centrale—the national library in Florence—is notable for its collection of
historical materials.

6. Spain

Castle of Simancas, Spain

Until the early 20th century, Spanish libraries catered to the reading needs of scholars
rather than those of the public. That changed when public libraries opened in Madrid in
the 1910s and in several towns of Catalonia, in the northeast of the country, soon
afterward. The Library of Catalonia, located in Barcelona, was the first Spanish library to
open its stacks to the public and to offer borrowing privileges. In the late 20th century
some of the largest and most important libraries were located in Madrid, including the
Escorial Library (founded in 1567), the National Library (founded in 1712 as the Royal
Library), and the Library of the Royal Palace (1760). The impressive collections of rare
books, manuscripts, and engravings in these libraries attest to the country’s rich library
tradition. The Complutense University of Madrid Library, founded in 1341, maintains
one of Spain’s largest academic collections.

7
. Belgium

Belgium began to develop public libraries as early as 1608. The country has also
maintained specialized libraries for several hundred years. However, the complex and
independent system of libraries that evolved in Belgium in the 18th and 19th centuries
hindered modernization and interlibrary cooperation. By the end of the 20th century,
Belgium had overcome these difficulties and had developed an excellent national library,
the Bibliothèque Royal Albert I, in Brussels. Belgium also has several important
university libraries, including the libraries at the Catholic University of Leuven and at the
Free University of Brussels.

8 Switzerland

.

Switzerland has no national library, although an effort was made to establish one in the
late 18th century. Under the decentralized structure of the Swiss federal government,
public libraries are supported by the country’s 26 autonomous cantons (municipalities).
Most of the country’s academic libraries were established in the 19th century, with the
exception of the library at the University of Basel, which was established in the 15th
century.

9
. Norway

At the beginning of the 20th century the Norwegian library system was considered one of
the most modern in the world. Since then it has not adopted new information
technologies as rapidly as have libraries in other countries of western Europe. The library
of the University of Oslo began carrying out the functions of a national library in 1815. In
1989 a new national library—the Nasjonalbibliotektjenester—was established in Rana.
The University of Oslo library now functions as a separate branch of the national library.

10
. Sweden

Sweden has a strong public library tradition that has been heavily influenced by the belief
that libraries should serve democracy. The country maintains high standards of library
service largely funded through local taxes. Some of the largest and most important
Swedish libraries are the Royal Library and the extensive library maintained by the Royal
Swedish Academy of Sciences, both in Stockholm. In the second half of the 20th century
several new Swedish universities also opened extensive libraries. In addition, libraries in
established universities expanded and significantly improved. Some of the largest
university libraries in Sweden are those of the University of Stockholm, the University of
Uppsala, and the University of Lund.

11
. Denmar
k

Danish library history during the 20th century has been marked by dramatic growth in
public library service and a move toward decentralization. Legislation in 1964 increased
state subsidies to libraries and required all communities to provide public library service.
In 1983 a new law placed libraries largely under municipal control. The result has been
expanded services and greater access to information in most communities. In 1990 the
Danish government established a Danish National Library Authority to coordinate the

work of the Danish Repository Library for Public Libraries, the Danish Central Library
for Immigrant Literature, the Danish Library Binding Center, and the Danish Library
Bureau.

12
. Finland

Finland’s first libraries were established in the 15th century, but it was not until 1921
(four years after Finland gained independence from Russia) that public libraries began to
receive state support. The country’s first Library Act, passed in 1928, provided strong
support for rural library development. The second Library Act, in 1962, increased federal
financial support to libraries and spurred their development nationwide.

B.
Eastern Europe and Russia

During the 20th century, wars and weak economies throughout eastern Europe caused
library development to suffer greatly in countries such as Russia, Belarus, Ukraine,
Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland. The wars of Yugoslav succession (1991-1995)
had a devastating effect on libraries in Bosnia, Croatia, and Yugoslavia. For example, in
1992 Bosnian Serbs shelled the National and University Library of Bosnia and
Herzegovina in Sarajevo, destroying 1.2 million books, 600,000 serial publications, and
all the catalogs that identified and organized them.

Russian libraries have their origins in the 11th century in the cathedrals and monasteries
of medieval Kievan Rus (Kyiv). In the 20th century these institutions were strongly
influenced by governmental and political forces. Library staff and collections
experienced the devastating effects of World War I, World War II, and the purges in the
1930s instigated by Joseph Stalin, the totalitarian ruler of the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR). On the other hand, the library system in Russia and other Soviet states
greatly expanded under Communist rule. The Soviet government founded the impressive
Lenin State Library (now the Russian State Library) in Moscow in 1925. The library’s
core collection came from Moscow’s Rumyantsev Museum and the Rumyantsev Public
Library, both of which were founded in the early 19th century from the library of Russian
count Nikolay Petrovich Rumyantsev. The Soviet Union eventually established many
new library collections throughout the country as well. By 1940 the USSR had built up
what many considered the best library system in the world at that time. Although World
War II devastated libraries in Moscow, Leningrad, Minsk, and other major cities, postwar
reconstruction efforts gave a high priority to library development. By 1980 there were a
reported 350,000 libraries throughout the USSR.

During the era of the Soviet Union, the Communist Party controlled the collections and
services offered by Soviet libraries. As a result, libraries in the USSR did not offer access

to any materials that the government might have considered politically disruptive. In
1989 and 1990, however, the journal Sovetskaia Bibliografiia published several landmark
articles disapproving of Communist Party control of libraries and calling for increased
access to literatures previously considered politically sensitive. After the collapse of the
Soviet Union in 1991, libraries offered a much wider range of materials in their
collections. However, the deteriorating economy crippled library operations and
development. In addition, most links between the formerly integrated libraries
disappeared.

Today, the Russian State Library, with holdings of more than 40 million items, is one of
the largest libraries in the world. Another important library in the Russian Federation is
the National Library of Russia in Saint Petersburg (formerly the Imperial Public Library
and later the M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin State Public Library), which maintains large
collections of manuscripts, incunabula (materials produced before 1501), music scores,
maps, and microforms. In addition, Russia has more than 3,000 libraries in the secondary
and higher education systems.

Since the early 1990s the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Hungary have utilized modern
information technology to upgrade their governmental and special information resource
centers. Romania’s two national libraries—the Library of the Academy of Romania and
the National Library—contain some 18 million items. Romania has an extensive system
of other libraries as well, including about 3,000 public libraries and 64 academic libraries.

C.
The Middle East

The origin and history of libraries and library studies can be traced to the area of
southwest Asia and northeast Africa known as the Middle East. Ancient civilizations
flourished in this region and collected their knowledge in impressive libraries such as
those in Alexandria and Pergamum. The Islamic civilization was equally intent on
preserving and advancing human knowledge in mosque libraries, also known as
madrassas (schools).

In the late 20th century many Middle Eastern nations established new libraries and
directed increased funds to existing institutions. Most of this development was stimulated
by soaring oil profits in some countries, the spread of printed materials, the secularization
of many nations, and the introduction of new technology. Library development was also
influenced by programs established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Tunisia and Saudi Arabia incorporated libraries into
their national development plans after UNESCO set up a 1974 meeting in Cairo, Egypt,
for Middle Eastern nations to discuss the potential of libraries in aiding national planning.
In the 1980s and 1990s other countries in the Middle East developed similar investment
plans, pouring money into new information technologies to significantly improve existing
library services.

Today, countries in the Middle East maintain a wide variety of national, academic,
public, school, and special libraries. By the 1990s many of these libraries had begun to
use computers and telecommunications technologies in their library services and
operations. However, most libraries in the region were slow to link themselves and their
users to the Internet due to prohibitive costs, government regulations, and a general lack
of technical abilities among librarians and users. Nevertheless, many libraries in the
region feature information on CD-ROM, including databases, indexes, and texts of
journals and periodicals.

1
. National Libraries

The oldest national libraries in the Middle East include the Algerian National Library
(established in 1835), which contains notable collections of early Islamic manuscripts,
and the Egyptian National Library (1870), which has one of the world’s best collections
of papyrus manuscripts. During the 20th century, other Middle Eastern countries
established national libraries: the National Library of Iraq was founded in 1920, the
National Library of Jordan in 1990, and the National Library of Kuwait in 1995. In Israel,
the library at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem operates as a national library.
Afghanistan maintains its national library at Kābul University.

National libraries in the Middle East commonly fall under the jurisdiction of each
country’s ministry of culture. As in other regions of the world, Middle Eastern national
libraries serve as national copyright depositories and as centers for the preservation of
national heritage. They also publish national bibliographies and lists of national
periodicals, and they preserve valuable and rare manuscripts in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian,
Turkish, Coptic, Armenian, and other languages. Most are open to the public and some
administer public library branches.

The size of the holdings in Middle Eastern national libraries varies considerably. In the
late 1990s it ranged from as few as 14,000 volumes in the National Library of Mauritania
to 950,000 volumes in the Algerian National Library, 1.5 million volumes in the Tunisian
National Library, and 9.8 million volumes in the Egyptian National Library. The facilities
of the region’s national libraries also differ from one another. While Syria’s Assad
National Library is housed in a spacious six-story building completed in 1984, the
Tunisian National Library, with its nearly 1.5 million volumes, remains in its original,
cramped 1910 building in Souk el-Attarine, Tunis. The National Library of Turkey, in
Ankara, houses its 1.5 million volumes in a modern building that features several reading
rooms, an exhibition hall, two concert halls, a computer center, and other facilities.

2
. Academic Libraries

Cairo University, founded in 1908 in Cairo, Egypt, is the oldest secular university in the
Middle East, and it has one of the region’s largest academic libraries. At the end of the
20th century, Egypt had 12 public universities spread all over the country, each of which
contained significant library holdings. Some of Egypt’s most notable academic library
collections are those at the private universities of the American University in Cairo; Al-
Azhar University, also in Cairo; and the Egyptian National University, which was
founded in Giza in 1995.

In Iraq, nearly 90 academic libraries serve the country’s universities and institutes of
technical higher education. The University of Baghdād, founded 1957, is the oldest and
largest university in the country, maintaining a library collection of more than 800,000
volumes.

Jordan maintains more than 60 academic libraries at its universities and other institutes of
higher learning. The oldest university in the country is the University of Jordan at
Amman, founded in 1962. Its central library contains more than 500,000 volumes. The
country’s other notable academic libraries are located at Mu’tah University (founded in
1984) in Al Karak and at the Jordan University of Science and Technology (1986) in
Irbid.

The American University of Beirut in Lebanon maintains one of the largest academic
library collections in the Middle East. It is especially renowned for its holdings in the
medical sciences. Other notable libraries at Middle Eastern universities include the
libraries of the University of Tehrān in Iran and the University of Ankara in Turkey.

In Israel, the Jewish National and University Library is located at the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem. The library contains more than 4 million volumes, including 200 early
manuscripts and books in more than 80 languages. It also has special collections in
medicine, chemistry, music, cartography, and other subjects. Other large academic
libraries in Israel include those at the University of Haifa and at Tel Aviv University.

3
. Public Libraries

The countries of the Middle East maintain a large number of public libraries, but
relatively few of these feature good collections and attractive facilities. Most libraries that
serve the general public suffer from shortages of books, space, and funds. For example,
public libraries in Saudi Arabia typically have between 5,000 and 30,000 volumes; only a
few have collections of more than 50,000 books. However, a few countries maintain
relatively broad networks of public libraries to serve their populations. For example,
Turkey maintains more than 1,000 public libraries throughout the country, many with
relatively large collections and modern facilities.

In several countries of the Middle East, the general public has access to libraries
originally established by the British Council and the American Cultural Center,

institutions that promote the exchange of cultural information. Several Arab countries,
including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iran, provide separate public library services for
men, women, and children. In Israel, a unit of the Ministry of Education and Culture
supervises, administers, and guides the modern public library system.

4
. School
Libraries

In the countries of the Middle East that produce oil, relatively well-funded school
libraries occupy modern facilities and maintain collections managed by professional
librarians. In Kuwait, for example, libraries in secondary schools are generally equipped
to serve as many as 50 students at a time with collections that adequately support the
school curriculum. However, poorer countries cannot always provide strong library
services in their schools. Among Jordan’s more than 3,600 high schools, some maintain
well-stocked libraries, while others provide no library services at all. In Iran, the few
school libraries that exist are generally run by a school staff member rather than by a
professional librarian.

5
. Special Libraries

During the second half of the 20th century, various corporations, organizations, and
government agencies throughout the Middle East began emphasizing the establishment
and expansion of special libraries and information centers. These institutions provide
users in specialized fields with access to information and collections not available in
public and university libraries.

In Saudi Arabia, special libraries provide highly valued services to the government and
businesses. For example, the Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO) first
developed a special library of energy-related materials during the 1950s. By the 1990s it
had grown to include a law library, a medical library, an Arabian affairs library, and
numerous technical libraries. Many of the government ministries throughout Saudi
Arabia also have their own specialized libraries. Egypt maintains special libraries to serve
most of its government ministries and agencies. Examples of special libraries and
information centers in Egypt include the Institute of Public Administration Library, the
Science Documentation Center of the Atomic Energy Commission, and the National
Information and Documentation Center. In Israel, businesses and organizations receive
support from the central government to develop special libraries in the sciences and
technology. In Kuwait, the National Scientific and Technical Information Center provides
extensive information and library services to Kuwaiti scientists.

6 Library Associations
.

Libraries in the Middle East have developed relatively few collective associations. The
scarcity of library associations is due in part to the lack of interlibrary cooperation among
the various countries and also to political instability in the region.

The oldest library association was founded in Egypt in 1945 as the Cairo Library
Association. A few years later it was renamed the Egyptian Library, Information, and
Archives Association and became a member of the International Federation of Library
Associations and Institutions (IFLA). The Jordanian Library Association has published a
number of reference tools for professionals, including an Arabic translation of the Dewey
Decimal Classification system. In Iran, the Tehrān Book Processing Center operates as a
type of library association by promoting librarianship and improvements to libraries
across the country. The two professional library associations in Israel, the Israeli Library
Association and the Israel Society of Special Libraries and Information Centers, are both
members of IFLA. An international Arab Federation of Library Associations was
established in 1996.

D.
Latin America

The region known as Latin America includes the entire western hemisphere south of the
United States. The nations of Latin America range from the many Spanish-speaking
countries of the region to French-speaking Haiti, Portuguese-speaking Brazil, and the
English-speaking nations of the Caribbean and adjacent mainland. Libraries share certain
characteristics among the various countries of Latin America, but they also reveal
significant differences from one country to the next.

Before most Latin American countries gained independence from European countries in
the 19th century, Roman Catholic monasteries and convents generally kept the most
important library collections on the continent. Many individuals in Latin America also
maintained extensive private libraries, some of which later served as the foundation for
research or academic collections. Most countries established national libraries not long
after gaining independence, although two national libraries—those in Colombia and
Ecuador—trace their history to the 18th century. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries
Latin American libraries began to adopt library organization practices such as the Dewey
Decimal Classification system and European indexing techniques. In the 1980s some of
the largest libraries in Latin America and the Caribbean began introducing automated
library systems and many now provide access to the Internet.

1. Mexico

Library at National Autonomous University of Mexico

Library at National Autonomous University of Mexico
The Central Library of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico
City is one of the best-known libraries in Latin America. Mexican architect and
artist Juan O’Gorman designed the building. Its colorful mosaic tiles depict
precolonial Mexico.
Liba Taylor/Hutchison Library

Full Size

Mexico’s National Library is affiliated with the country’s national university, the
National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México, or UNAM) in Mexico City. The UNAM’s Institute of Bibliographical Research
administers the National Library’s extensive collection of rare documents from Mexican
history. The institute also administers the national periodical collection, the Hemeroteca
Nacional de México.

Aside from hosting the National Library, the UNAM is home to the country’s largest
library, the Central Library, which is one of the most important academic libraries in
Latin America. Built in the early 1950s, the Central Library was designed by Mexican
architect and artist Juan O’Gorman, who decorated its exterior with colorful mosaic tiles
depicting precolonial Mexico. Before the UNAM’s library was founded, most
universities in Latin America divided their collections among separate faculty and
research institute libraries. The UNAM formed a single coordinated library system for its
entire institution, and this allowed the university to minimize costs by avoiding
unnecessary duplication of expensive publications. Other Mexican universities in the
region maintained small, inadequate libraries, so they closed these facilities, consolidated
their resources in the UNAM’s Central Library, and allowed their students and faculty to
access the collections there.

By the mid-1990s there were more than 5,000 public libraries in Mexico, a dramatic
increase from less than 400 public libraries in 1980. This achievement resulted from an
ambitious program of public library expansion that was begun in the early 1980s by the
federal government in collaboration with states, cities, and towns. As part of this
expansion plan, a federal agency known as the General Directorate of Libraries acquires
and catalogs materials, sets standards, and provides orientation for library staff. State and
local authorities provide staff members with adequate library facilities and salaries. The
primary mission of the libraries is to serve the general public. Because school libraries in
Mexico are generally inadequate, all public libraries also make provisions for children’s
academic and recreational needs.

The largest of the country’s public libraries is the Library of Mexico in Mexico City. In
addition to providing standard library materials, it has a rare-book collection, issues its
own journal, and features a special reading room devoted to Mexican history and culture.

The Benjamin Franklin Library (Biblioteca Benjamin Franklin, or BBF) also serves
readers in Mexico. The BBF is known as the forerunner of information resource centers
maintained around the globe by the U.S. Department of State. These centers are designed
to promote American culture abroad. With initial support from the State Department
through a grant to the American Library Association, the BBF first opened in 1942 and
served all types of readers, from children to scholars, with circulating collections on open
shelves. At one time the total collections exceeded 50,000 volumes, including many
American scholarly journals.

Most of Mexico’s many special libraries serve government agencies and businesses in the
capital city. For example, the National Council for Science and Technology provides
government and industry workers with information and training in the scientific and
technological fields.

2
. Central America

During the last decades of the 20th century, Central America was marked by civil strife:
the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua (1978-1990), a civil war in El Salvador (1979-
1992), and a U.S. invasion of Panama (1989), among other upheavals. The Central
American country of Costa Rica remained relatively peaceful during this period, and it
devoted much of its national budget to education and improving social conditions. As a
result, Costa Rica offers the region’s best public library services and access to foreign
information databases. It also has the best national information networks in medicine and
several other scientific fields. Public library service is not as good in other Central
American countries. However, several governments and international aid agencies have
opened cultural centers in rural areas, and some of these centers have modest collections
available to the general public.

a.School
Libraries

Central America maintains very few school libraries, although the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) sponsored a pilot project in
the 1960s to establish school libraries in Honduras. The project had laid some
foundations for school library service by the late 1970s when it was suspended due to
political instability in the region. UNESCO revived the program in the late 1980s after
most political unrest had subsided.

b
National Libraries
.

The relatively poor governments of Central American countries have had difficulty
maintaining national libraries amidst political unrest and various environmental disasters.
For example, an earthquake in 1972 severely damaged the Rubén Darío National Library
building in Managua, Nicaragua. However, with help from the Swedish International
Development Agency, the library was able to relocate, increase its holdings, install
modern library automation, compile a national bibliography, and expand public library
service in the interior of Nicaragua. El Salvador’s national library suffered damage from
an earthquake in 1986, and reconstruction has been hampered by a lack of resources. In
addition to maintaining a national library, El Salvador is home to an independent private
institution, the Gallardo Library, whose collections include some manuscripts from the
colonial era.

c.University Libraries

University libraries in Central America generally offer better and more comprehensive
services than do national libraries in the region. In Guatemala, the country’s five
universities work together to improve library access, issue a directory, and compile a
union list of periodicals. The Francisco Marroquín University in Guatemala City provides
modern services such as an online catalog and access to the MEDLINE database of
medical journal information, published by the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Most university libraries in El Salvador have inadequate quarters, very small collections,
and little service beyond circulation of reserve books. The government closed the
national University of El Salvador during much of the civil war, so most university
library development occurred in the country’s private institutions. El Salvador’s oldest
private university, the Central American University of José Simeón Cañas (founded in
1965), features the country’s largest collection of materials. After the end of the civil war,
the national university began a strategic plan for library development, partially funded by
the government of Spain.

The National Autonomous University of Honduras in Tegucigalpa has a central library
with adequate quarters, including a state-of-the-art audiovisual center. The university also
maintains branch libraries at its medical school and at its campus in San Pedro Sula.

3
. Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela

The countries in the Andes mountain region of South America are Bolivia, Colombia,
Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Each of these countries maintains a national library. The
largest collections are those of the national libraries of Peru and Venezuela, each of
which has more than 1 million volumes. In 1943 a fire destroyed most of Peru’s national
library, including its irreplaceable historical manuscripts. With international assistance,
however, Peru not only rebuilt the library building but also modernized the library’s
equipment and operating procedures. The national library of Colombia, in Bogotá, dates
from 1777. The building’s facilities are largely out of date. Ecuador maintains a modern
national library in the capital city of Quito. Bolivia also offers modern library services in
Sucre. Venezuela’s national library became an independent agency in the 1970s, and later
it increased its collections, created an automated bibliography and catalog system, and
began a conservation program. The library also administers a national system of public
libraries.

One of Latin America’s most important libraries is the Luis Ángel Arango Library in
Bogotá, Colombia. Now a public library, the Arango Library began as an outgrowth of
the modest special library of economics materials collected by Colombia’s central bank.
It became a general independent library in 1958 and moved into a new building with 11
reading rooms in 1990. Another important library is the Pilot Public Library for Latin

America, established in 1954 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) in Medellín, Colombia. This library has achieved enormous
success in providing public access to information for the people of Medellín. Public
library service in other parts of Colombia is not as strong, although both the Colombian
Institute of Culture (COLCULTURA) and the Arango Library provide subsidies of
various types to libraries in smaller cities.

Ministries of education in Andean countries lack budgets adequate to devote much
attention to library development in elementary schools. However, secondary schools—
especially private secondary schools—often have modest libraries that support the
academic curriculum. In Bolivia, the Book Bank, established in 1970, provides library
service to students and the general public throughout the country. Operating from
headquarters in La Paz, it maintains more than 100 branches, each having about 1,000
volumes.

Despite having poor collections early in the 20th century, university libraries in the
Andean countries began to improve markedly in the 1970s. For example, Colombia
constructed central libraries on new university campuses. In many cases, funds for these
libraries were provided by the Inter-American Development Bank, an independent
intergovernmental body. Colombian universities also received technical assistance to
modernize their libraries from a federal agency known as the Colombian Institute for the
Promotion of Higher Education. In addition, university libraries hired new staff members
from among recent graduates of the country’s Inter-American Library School. Academic
libraries followed similar patterns of development elsewhere in the Andean region.

Most special libraries in Andean countries serve government ministries and private
research institutes. Although the region’s national scientific research councils are active
and well funded, they generally devote their resources to gaining access to international
databases rather than to developing their own collections of specialized journals and other
materials.

4
. Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay

The southernmost Latin American countries are Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and
Uruguay. Except for Paraguayans, the people in those countries have a stronger tradition
of buying books and forming private libraries than do citizens in the rest of Latin
America. Over the years many of these private collections have been incorporated into
national, public, and academic libraries in the region.

The responsibilities of the national libraries in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay differ from
many of those in the rest of the world because they do not directly serve each country’s
parliament. Instead, each of these countries maintains a separate parliamentary library
with collections designed to serve government legislators. The Chilean national library in
Santiago contains approximately 3.5 million volumes. It also administers the country’s

fledgling public library system. In addition, the national library maintains a special room
housing the 40,000-volume collection of Latin America’s most influential bibliographer,
Chilean librarian José Toribio Medina, who lived in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. Argentina’s national library, established in Buenos Aires in 1810, is in the
process of reorganizing its large collection. Paraguay also maintains a small national
library.

The University of Buenos Aires maintains one of the largest collections of library
materials in southern Latin America. The university’s collection is distributed throughout
the city in a number of separate faculty and research institute libraries. In 1941 a grant
from the Rockefeller Foundation helped establish a coordinating office for the various
units of the university library system. Argentina also maintains a strong collection at its
oldest university, the National University of Córdoba (founded in 1613). As late as 1956
Argentina had only 7 institutions of higher education, all funded by the central
government. Since then, however, new universities have multiplied rapidly, bringing the
total to more than 50. Most of the new universities have small library holdings, but some
have initiated aggressive acquisitions programs.

Chile’s national university, the University of Chile (founded in 1738), maintains that
country’s largest and most comprehensive library collection. Like the University of
Buenos Aires, it has several campuses and administers a decentralized library system.
Other notable university libraries in Chile include those at the Catholic University of
Valparaíso and at the Federico Santa María Technical University, also in Valparaíso.

5
. Brazil

Most of Brazil’s libraries are concentrated in urban areas, leaving poor and rural
populations largely underserved. The most advanced and numerous library services exist
in the southern Brazilian states, especially São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, and
Rio Grande do Sul. The northern states maintain relatively few libraries, and these are
generally ill-equipped.

Brazil’s National Library, established in 1910, is housed in an impressive but crowded
building in downtown Rio de Janeiro. The National Library is one of the largest libraries
in Latin America, with a collection that exceeds 3 million volumes. It also contains
manuscripts, musical scores, maps, and other materials. The National Library’s rare-book
collection includes early printed documents from colonial Brazil as well as from the
private library of 19th-century Brazilian emperor Pedro II. The National Library receives
all Brazilian publications submitted for copyright protection and also publishes the
national bibliography. The Brazilian Institute for Scientific and Technical Information
was established in 1954 to improve access to information in the sciences and technology.
It also trains personnel for positions in scientific and technical fields, and it develops
pioneering uses of technology.

Until the second half of the 20th century, many Brazilian students of higher education
attended small, university-level schools that were unaffiliated with any larger, centralized
institution. Instead of having access to libraries at large, well-funded universities, these
university students used whatever library services their small school could provide. Many
students also used the libraries of museums, research institutes, and other cultural
institutions. Brazilian higher education experienced radical changes after the military
took control of the government in 1964. Local universities came under federal control,
enrollments soared, and many institutions moved to newly constructed campuses with
central library buildings. By the time the government returned to civilian control in 1979,
most institutions had developed centrally administered university library systems. Today
there are more library staff members, and they receive professional training and maintain
large, comprehensive collections. The National Program for University Libraries,
established in 1986, encourages cooperation among both public and private university
libraries. Brazilian universities also maintain a centralized online catalog system.

Public library service does not reach the entire Brazilian population, but a considerable
number of public libraries do exist throughout the country. State libraries offer most
public library services in the capitals of individual states. A few state libraries also
maintain branches outside the capital cities, but service is quite limited in most rural
areas. For many years the government has administered the National Book Institute,
which provides limited quantities of books to all types of Brazilian libraries.

The Mário Andrade Municipal Library in São Paulo is the largest and best-known of the
country’s public libraries. It is supported by the city, and the main building is a public
landmark housing a large noncirculating collection. The Mário Andrade Municipal
Library also maintains branches throughout the city that provide circulating materials to
adult members of the general public. Children in São Paulo receive library services
through a separately administered Children’s Library that maintains its own main library
as well as branches throughout the metropolitan area. Some facilities jointly house
branches of the city and the children’s libraries.

Brazil does not maintain a widespread network of school libraries. However, many
schools have benefited from the National Textbook Program, a project jointly
administered by the United States Agency for International Development and the federal
government of Brazil. Begun in the late 1960s, the program has provided millions of
books for elementary and secondary schools as well as for institutes of higher education.
Although it was not principally a library project, it laid a foundation for the later
development of at least minimal library service in the schools.

The many special libraries in Brazil primarily serve various industrial sectors and
government agencies. Among the country’s largest special libraries is the Latin American
and Caribbean Health Science Information Centre in São Paulo. This library was created
in part with assistance of the Pan American Health Organization, an international public
health agency. Many of the special libraries with science and technology collections are
linked by national information networks in fields such as agriculture, petroleum, nuclear
energy, and health sciences.

6
. The Caribbean

The Caribbean is the most diverse region in Latin America, and its diversity significantly
complicates the development of regional library associations and networks in the region.
One example of this diversity is language: Not all Caribbean populations speak the same
language, so fewer Caribbean libraries are able to participate in interlibrary loans than are
libraries in other regions of the world.

Cuba’s José Martí National Library is the oldest and largest national library in the
Caribbean, but since the 1960s it has operated with a very limited budget. Despite these
financial constraints, its collection has grown to more than 2 million volumes. The
national library also administers all of Cuba’s public libraries. Haiti has maintained a
small national library in Port-au-Prince since 1940. In the Dominican Republic, the
National Autonomous University of Santo Domingo performed all of the functions of a
national library until 1971, when the country established an official national library in
Santo Domingo. In Jamaica, the West India Reference Library of the Institute of Jamaica
formed the basis for the National Library of Jamaica, which was established in 1979.

Academic libraries are among the most numerous and best-supported libraries in the
Caribbean. In the Dominican Republic, for example, two private institutions—the Pedro
Henríquez Ureña University and the Catholic University, Mother and Teacher—have
developed strong collections and provide reference and circulation services to their
students and faculty. In addition, the publicly supported Technological Institute is a
valuable source for scientific information. The most extensive academic libraries in the
Caribbean are maintained by the University of the West Indies, which operates campuses
in three separate nations—Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados—and is funded
by 14 governments in the English-speaking Caribbean. The library on each campus
serves faculty and students in different subject areas unique to each unit, but the three
collections form one system and operate under one director.

Although there are public libraries on many of the Caribbean islands, most are small and
inadequate. In Jamaica, however, the government-funded Jamaica Library Service (JLS)
maintains a system of 13 regional libraries, consisting of more than 150 branches and
more than 500 bookmobile stops. Annual circulation exceeds 2 million volumes checked
out to about 700,000 registered borrowers. JLS also administers a thriving library service
for primary and secondary schools.

E.
Asia

Although Asia has a rich cultural heritage, with written records extending back some
4,000 years, libraries were slow to emerge in the region. Temples and centers of religious

learning established most of the earliest Asian libraries that had sizable collections. These
institutions developed in the period that roughly corresponds to the European Middle
Ages, from about the 5th century to the 15th century. At the same time, court libraries
grew to coexist with religious libraries in most Asian countries. Use of these libraries was
restricted to court officials or to religious leaders. It was not until the early 20th century
that Asian libraries became accessible to a wide public, and for the most part public
library systems did not emerge until after World War II ended in 1945.

In general, Asian libraries have been slow to automate their operations, although many
libraries in China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan do have
computerized systems. In the late 1990s most computer use in Asia was limited to
microcomputer management of circulation. However, the public has access to online
catalogs in increasing numbers of Asian libraries, particularly in documentation centers
and national libraries. The high cost of international telephone lines and the slow delivery
of documents from overseas have inhibited more rapid growth of online searching.

1

Most Asian countries maintain national libraries. The National Library of China, founded
in Beijing in 1909, contains more than 18 million volumes, making it Asia’s largest
collection. In 1987 it moved into a new facility in Beijing that is one of the world’s
largest library buildings. The Japanese National Diet Library was established in 1948. It
has about 7 million volumes and ranks as one of Asia’s most important book collections.
The Japanese government also produces the National Center for Science Information
System, an online database of information at Japanese national university libraries.
India’s National Library, established in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1948, traces its roots to
the Kolkata Public Library, which was established in 1836. The National Library of India
maintains collections of materials written in the country’s many languages. India also
maintains its National Archives in New Delhi.

Other national libraries have been established in Bangladesh (1971), Indonesia (1980),
Laos (1969), Malaysia (1971), Myanmar (1952; then known as Burma), Pakistan (1951),
the Philippines (1928), Singapore (1958), South Korea (1923), Sri Lanka (1990),
Thailand (1905), and Vietnam (1959). All of these libraries maintain large collections and
offer services for librarians, government agencies, scholars, and members of the general
public. Many of these national libraries also serve as national depositories and as national
archives, which maintain historical government documents. Many Asian countries
publish national bibliographies through their national libraries. These bibliographies
serve as complete lists of books issued in each country. Some national bibliographies also
list publications in other formats, such as periodicals and video or audio materials.

2 University Libraries
.

Libraries in Asian universities vary considerably in both quality and size. The earliest
academic libraries in Asia were established in India. Scholars believe that an excellent
library served Taxila University in northwest India (founded in AD 414), but the
university and its library were destroyed during an invasion later in the 5th century. The
oldest existing university library in Asia was founded at the University of Calcutta in
1873. Libraries at the University of Bombay and the University of Madras, both in India,
opened soon afterward. Indian academic libraries have benefited considerably from the
efforts of American librarian Asa Don Dickinson, who served at the University of the
Punjab in 1915 and 1916. Dickinson promoted the concept of the university librarian as
an individual with specialized training, in contrast to the traditional librarian in Asian
countries whose qualifications were generally limited to academic scholarship. Dickinson
also wrote the first specifically Asian textbook on librarianship, The Punjab Library
Primer (1916), and in 1916 he established one of the first library associations in Asia.

Asia’s largest academic libraries are at the University of Tokyo in Japan and at Beijing
University in China. Other notable university libraries include those at the Bangladesh
University of Engineering and Technology, Qinghua University in China, Ewha
Women’s University in South Korea, the University of Malaya in Malaysia, the
University of the Punjab in Pakistan, the University of the Philippines, and the National
Taiwan University. Despite these examples of modern, well-equipped academic libraries,
most libraries in Asian universities function as small, decentralized departmental units
with poorly trained staff and inadequate collections. Most also lack important services
such as reference, interlibrary loan, and circulation of materials.

3
. School
Libraries

Most countries in Asia did not begin to establish libraries in elementary and secondary
schools until the late 20th century. In countries that do have school libraries, staffing and
collections are frequently inadequate, and most libraries are staffed by teachers rather
than by professionals with specialized training. Some Asian governments have
requirements for staffing and collection standards in school libraries, but authorities
rarely enforce these standards. Nevertheless, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia,
and Taiwan have all established relatively successful school library systems.

4
. Public Libraries

Despite national efforts to establish public libraries in many countries of Asia, most
Asians—particularly those in rural areas—remain without access to libraries of any type.
Nevertheless, villages in several countries have small reading centers, and a number of

cities maintain large municipal libraries. According to some estimates, China maintains
more than 2,500 public libraries throughout the country. These libraries mainly offer
children’s and educational services, although their overall quality is poor. Japan’s 2,600
public libraries emphasize services for children, people with disabilities, and senior
citizens. India maintains more than 40,000 public libraries—the greatest number in Asia
—but most of them have minimal collections and no professional staff. In addition, more
than 80 percent of the literate population in rural India still lack library service. The
largest municipal library in Asia is the Shanghai Library in China; this library maintains a
current, broad, international collection that exceeds 10 million items.

5
. Special Libraries

Apart from national libraries, the most advanced libraries in Asia are special libraries.
These libraries serve various government agencies as well as researchers and
practitioners in specific fields such as agriculture, law, and the health sciences. Among
the leading health sciences libraries are those maintained by the International Center for
Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Dhaka, Bangladesh; China Medical University in
T’aichung, Taiwan; and Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. The Chinese
Academy of Sciences also maintains a general collection of more than 5 million volumes
on various scientific subjects.

Many Asian countries have linked together the resources and services of various special
libraries using computerized networks. The libraries establish these links in so-called
documentation centers, which offer researchers translations, photocopies, reference
assistance, and location information for library materials. In India, for example, the
Indian National Scientific Documentation Center (INSDOC) produces Indian Science
Abstracts and other bibliographies of scientific material, maintains a catalog of Indian
scientific periodicals, and provides online database searching. Staff members locate
documents not available locally and arrange to photocopy them and even to translate
them. Individual scientists may register to receive notification of new publications in
their fields of interest. The Indian National Information System for Science and
Technology (NISSAT) coordinates the work of various Indian documentation centers,
bringing wide exposure to the country’s extensive network of special libraries.

6
. Library Education and Professional Associations

Librarianship was slow to develop as a professional course of study in Asian universities,
but in the second half of the 20th century programs of library education proliferated
throughout the region. These programs also became more specialized, focusing on Asian
libraries in particular, and the quality of the programs steadily improved. By the 1990s
universities in India maintained 75 library schools, more than any other country in the

world. About 50 of these offered master’s degrees, and 25 offered doctorates as well.
About 50 universities in China award library science bachelor’s degrees, and those in
Beijing and Wuhan also offer master’s degrees. Other Asian nations with university-level
programs in library science include Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, the
Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Thailand.

Many library education programs in Asian countries are based on American or British
models. The Japan Library School in Keio University, for example, is based on American
university departments of library and information science. Likewise, many of the
programs of library education in India are based on those at British universities. A
significant number of Asian students of library and information science attend programs
in the United States or Europe. Asian graduates of Western schools are working in
libraries throughout Asia.

Most Asian countries have professional associations of librarians. These associations
were established primarily after World War II, although Japan’s dates from 1892 and
India’s from 1916. Some professional library associations represent larger regions, such
as the Congress of South East Asian Librarians, established in 1970. The Commonwealth
Library Association was established in 1972 and represents professional librarians
throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, an association of independent nations—many
of them in Asia—that were generally once colonies of the British Empire. In some
countries, such as Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore, library associations have contributed
to the establishment of official standards for various types of libraries.

F.
Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific

Libraries did not exist in Australia, New Zealand, or the South Pacific until the early 19th
century, but they have developed rapidly since then. Today, many libraries throughout
the region feature state-of-the-art services and resources.

1
. Australia

Australia’s first public library, the Wesleyan Library, was established in 1825 in Hobart,
Tasmania. The library was housed in a chapel, and most of its collection consisted of
religious materials. Australia introduced a more secular library in 1827 when it
established its first school for the education of workers, known as a mechanics’ institute,
also in Hobart. Other mechanics’ institutes were soon established in different parts of the
country. Most maintained small libraries and reading rooms with collections designed to
improve the skills of laborers. They generally relied on voluntary subscriptions and
charity for support.

Australian colonial governments first established tax-supported public libraries in the
Australian capital cities of Melbourne, Victoria (1853); Sydney, New South Wales
(1869); Hobart, Tasmania (1870); Adelaide, South Australia (1884); Perth, Western
Australia (1886); and Brisbane, Queensland (1896). All of these public libraries in capital
cities eventually evolved into state libraries featuring strong collections in their state’s
history.

Today almost all Australians have access to public library services. Most metropolitan
public libraries provide fiction and nonfiction books, reference collections with research
links to the state library, online catalogs, children’s services, and newspapers and
magazines. Some offer large-print and foreign-language books, audio and video
materials, local history collections, deliveries to homebound users, Internet access, adult
literacy programs, bookmobiles, and outreach services to Aboriginal people and Torres
Strait Islanders.

When the Australian colonies became a nation in 1901, the federal government took the
first steps in creating a national library by establishing the Parliamentary Library in
Melbourne in 1901. The library moved to Canberra with the parliament in 1927, and it
became the National Library of Australia in 1960. The National Library’s strengths
include a wealth of materials on Australian history, Asia, and the Pacific. Among these
materials are the extensive Petherick collection of Australiana and the journal of 18th-
century British explorer Captain James Cook describing Cook’s circumnavigation of the
world in the ship Endeavour. The National Library’s publications include the Australian
National Bibliography, Australian Government Publications, and the Australian Public
Affairs Information Service periodical index. Its Kinetica service promotes resource
sharing through the National Bibliographic Database, which contains bibliographic
records of the collections of more than 700 member libraries. The library also managed
the Australian Joint Copying Project, a cooperative venture from 1948 to 1993 that
reproduced on microfilm British historical records relating to Australia and the Pacific.
The Pacific Manuscripts Bureau of the library preserved on microfilm significant
unpublished material in the Pacific Islands.

Members of the Philosophical Society of Australia established the country’s first special
library in Sydney in 1821. Over the years, Australia has developed a wide range of
special library and information services, including those run by federal and state
parliaments, various government departments, private corporations, professional
associations, and community groups. Today the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organization operates a network library service with branch libraries that
support research divisions around the country. The Department of Defense also operates
an extensive network of libraries that serves the army, navy, air force, and related defense
programs. The Department of the Attorney General provides online databases covering
Australian legal journals and federal statute and case law.

Although the first Australian universities were founded in the early 1850s, it was several
decades before they developed significant library collections. University enrollment
expanded after World War II ended in 1945, and federal government funding for

Australian universities greatly increased during the 1950s and 1960s. Several new
universities were founded during this period, and by 1975 Australia had 19 universities
with combined library holdings of about 9 million volumes. Universities with notable
library collections include the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales,
the University of Melbourne, the Australian National University, the University of
Queensland, Monash University, La Trobe University, and Deakin University. Many of
the university libraries cooperate through regional networks that provide shared
cataloging, reciprocal borrowing, joint storage, and other services.

Libraries existed in many public and private schools in Australia in the early 20th
century, but they were poor by modern standards. Between 1969 and 1985 the Australian
federal and state governments greatly improved this situation by providing special
funding for school library buildings, books, equipment, and librarian training programs.
All state education authorities developed some centralized support for school libraries.
This support took various forms, such as cataloging, book processing, or publication of
journals. Schools in rural and isolated areas often formed libraries to serve both the
school and the community. Today, Australian schools maintain more than 10,000
libraries for students of all ages.

The first Australian program in professional library education was established at the
University of New South Wales in Sydney in 1959. By the end of the 20th century there
were 12 schools of librarianship. Most offered both undergraduate and postgraduate
degrees and programs. Today, several technical colleges also offer programs for the
training of library technicians. The Australian Library and Information Association
publishes journals, holds conferences, and provides professional support services for
librarians and library technicians.

2. New Zealand

University of Auckland

University of Auckland
Founded in 1882 as part of the University of New Zealand, the University of
Auckland became an independent institution in 1962. The Clock Tower Library,
visible behind trees, is part of the university’s main campus, located in the center of
Auckland.
Geoff Mason/Key-Light Image Library

Full Size

New Zealand’s first public library was a mechanics’ institute for the education of
workers, established in Wellington in 1841. Until the 1950s most public libraries in New
Zealand charged fees for lending services. Today, most New Zealand public libraries
offer a full range of services free of charge. Many offer specialized collections and
services for Maori and other Polynesian groups.

The National Library of New Zealand was established in 1966 by combining the
Alexander Turnbull Library, the General Assembly Library, and the National Library
Service. Since 1987 it has been housed in a large, modern building in Wellington. The
library publishes the New Zealand National Bibliography and operates the New Zealand
Bibliographic Network.

New Zealand’s first university, the University of Otago, was founded in 1869 and quickly
developed a sizable library. New Zealand later established other institutions of higher
education, particularly after the end of World War II. By 1996 the country maintained
seven state-supported universities as well as several technical institutes and teachers
colleges, each with its own library. The University of Auckland is the largest university
in New Zealand—it has more than 1.5 million volumes in its library.

3
. South Pacific Islands

Among the island nations of the South Pacific, Fiji has the longest tradition of public
library services. The Suva City Library was established in 1908 by the Carnegie
Corporation of New York as part of an effort to establish free public libraries throughout
the world. Eventually, the Library Service of Fiji assumed responsibility for regional
public libraries, as well as for government and school libraries. Collections are primarily
in English.

Regional organizations such as the South Pacific Commission provide valuable library
and archival resources for governments, industry, and scientific research in the region.
They also maintain information networks related to agriculture, marine resources, and the
environment. The Fiji Library Association was formed in 1972 and publishes the Fiji
Library Journal, a professional journal for Fijian librarians. The Pacific Islands
Association of Libraries and Archives was founded in 1991 and publishes the Directory
of Libraries, Archives, and Museums in Micronesia.

G.
Afric
a

Throughout the early 20th century, foreign organizations drove the effort to create
libraries in Africa, often through the contributions of international agencies such as the
British Council, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the now abolished United
States Information Agency, whose functions were transferred to the State Department.
Before former colonies in Africa gained independence in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s,
most libraries were modeled on those in France, Britain, and Portugal; these countries
were the major colonial powers in Africa. With independence, however, most countries
have tried to shake off colonial influences and develop libraries based on local cultures
and traditions.

In an effort to develop a stronger local foundation for African libraries, many African
countries have formed international library networks. In the late 1970s, for example,
Marxist governments in Portuguese-speaking nations of Africa used central planning of
library services to implement new technologies and to improve literacy. Within a decade
several of these countries had joined the International Center of Bantu Civilizations, a
network created to meet Central African documentation needs. French-speaking countries
in Africa have also formed library networks. In 1989 the French Ministry of Cooperation
and Development signed agreements with 14 French-speaking African nations to develop
general reading programs for local populations. The ministry also supported efforts in
Cameroon, Niger, Madagascar, and Burkina Faso to establish automated national
databases of information.

Unstable economies, poor telecommunications infrastructure, and weak distribution
channels have all slowed the application of modern technology to library services in
Africa. Nevertheless, by the 1990s many university and research libraries featured state-
of-the-art equipment, often purchased through grants from a variety of international
agencies and foundations. Most funding came from various agencies of the United
Nations, with aid also provided by the World Bank, the British Council, the Carnegie
Corporation of New York, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Ford Foundation.

Computers enable many African academic and special libraries to share resources
through local area networks. These libraries also use computers to provide users with
online public access catalogs, information in CD-ROM format, and lists of periodicals
and other bibliographic databases. CD-ROMs have found a wide acceptance in African
academic libraries and research institutes, mainly because the discs are capable of storing
large volumes of information and do not require online telephone communication for
access.

With the exception of the few public libraries established by international groups, almost
no African public libraries used modern technology as recently as the late 1990s.
Computers and related equipment were similarly scarce in school libraries, except for
libraries of privately funded high schools. South Africa, the most technologically
developed country in Africa, established online information retrieval services for
academic libraries in the mid-1970s and an online national bibliographic and information
network in 1983. By the late 1990s most academic libraries in South Africa provided
access to the Internet.

1

Like their counterparts in other parts of the world, national libraries in Africa are
maintained by the federal government. They serve various branches of the government
and function as a link between their countries and others in the interchange of
information. They also function as legal depositories for publications in their countries,
receiving copies of all publications submitted for copyright protection. Some African
national libraries are responsible for public library development in their countries.

The need for universities, and therefore university libraries, was for many years a higher
priority than the establishment of national libraries in most African countries. As a result,
many university libraries performed the functions of national libraries. For example, the
library of the University of Ibadan, in Nigeria, acted as a legal depository for all Nigerian
publications and also published the National Bibliography of Nigeria until the National
Library of Nigeria was established in 1962. The same is true of the libraries at the
University of Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia; the University of Khartoum, in Sudan;
University College of Swaziland; and Makerere University, in Uganda.

By the 1990s nearly every African country had a national library located in the capital
city of the country. Among the English-speaking countries of Africa, some of the most
notable national libraries are the National Library of Nigeria in Lagos, the National
Library of Kenya in Nairobi, the National Library of Swaziland in Mbabane, the National
Library of Lesotho in Maseru, and the National Library of Gambia in Banjul. French-
speaking countries maintain national libraries in Lomé, Togo; Tunis, Tunisia; Algiers,
Algeria; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Antananarivo, Madagascar; and Yaoundé, Cameroon. The
national libraries of the Portuguese-speaking countries of Mozambique and Angola are
located in Maputo and Luanda, respectively. South Africa maintains two national
libraries: the South African Library in Cape Town and the State Library in Pretoria.

2
. Public Libraries

Public libraries in Africa trace their origins to the desire of European colonists to have
access to the information resources of their home countries. As a result, the public
libraries they established typically provided access only to specialized groups of
European descendants and to elite Africans, not to the general public. For example, the
first Lagos Public Library in Nigeria was established in 1932 with a grant from the
Carnegie Corporation of New York. Despite being nominally public, it was inaccessible
to most Nigerians because it was located on the grounds of the government houses.

In former British colonies of Africa, donations of English-language books significantly
aided the development of public libraries. The British Council, which was instrumental in

the establishment of libraries in many countries of Africa, continues to maintain libraries
in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, and Tanzania. Most public
libraries are located in urban areas, but some countries, including Ghana, Sierra Leone,
and Tanzania, have extended services to rural areas as well.

Public library development in Africa is often impeded because libraries must compete for
scarce government funds with more urgent concerns, such as health care. Despite severe
financial constraints, public officials have tried to make traditional public library services
such as acquisition, lending, and reference available to all users regardless of age, sex,
religion, or social status.

3
. Special Libraries

Colonial governments established the earliest special libraries in Africa to promote
studies of practical value to colonial administrators. In British colonies, for example,
special libraries reflected the colonial governments’ interest in agriculture, medicine, and
geology. In Nigeria, British colonists established the Agricultural Research Department
in Ibadan in 1910, the Medical Research Institute in Lagos in 1910, and the Nigeria
Geological Survey Institute in Kaduna in 1919. All of these institutes had libraries to
serve the research officers. Other European colonies in Africa established similar libraries
for specialized research.

In South Africa, commercial and technological special libraries grew with
industrialization, particularly after the end of World War II in 1945. By the 1990s more
than 600 special libraries in South Africa served researchers in the fields of law, banking,
agriculture, medicine, politics, and social sciences. In Malawi, Tanzania, and Kenya, the
ministries of agriculture maintain central and branch libraries at research stations, training
centers, and divisional offices. The central libraries perform acquisitions and then send
the materials to branch libraries.

Some special libraries in Africa serve government officials in political capacities. For
example, the Chama Cha Mapinduzi library in Tanzania was established by leaders of the
government’s ruling political party as a means of obtaining information to support their
political activities.

4
. University Libraries

The prime function of university libraries in Africa is the same as their function in other
parts of the world: to provide library services to students and faculty members. Because
most African universities were not founded until after World War II ended in 1945, their
libraries have not had time to develop extensive collections. Important libraries founded

before African countries gained independence in the mid- to late 20th century include the
library of Fourah Bay College, which was founded in 1827 in Freetown, Sierra Leone,
and the library of the University of Liberia, which was established in Monrovia in 1862.

African university libraries vary in size but consist mainly of textbooks and—in larger
universities—research materials. Many university libraries strive to give prominence to
publications that are African in origin or are about Africa in general. Universities such as
the University of Ibadan in Nigeria and the University of Khartoum in Sudan have large
collections of African materials because they formerly acted as the national legal
depositories for local authors. Today, African university libraries often acquire library
materials through gifts and through exchanges with organizations and institutions in other
parts of the world. Some international organizations also designate selected university
libraries as their depositories. For example, the University of Ibadan receives certain
documents from United Nations agencies.

5
. School
Libraries

School libraries are distributed unevenly throughout Africa, and many areas remain
poorly served. In some countries, such as Uganda, school libraries are the responsibility
of the national library. In other countries, such as Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania,
they are overseen by a national library board. In Nigeria, each state government is
responsible for school library services within the state. Most school libraries in Tanzania,
Nigeria, Zambia, and Ghana have been beneficiaries of donations from the Ranfurly
Library Service, a British organization dedicated to eliminating world hunger through
education.

Despite efforts to improve educational resources throughout the continent, most school
libraries in Africa still suffer from lack of funds and lack of attention. However, private
schools often maintain well-stocked libraries managed by professional librarians. Some
of the more privileged school libraries provide lending, reference, and supplementary
reading services.

6
. Library Education

Library education in most parts of Africa continues to reflect the influence of the
European colonists, who built library schools, paid staff salaries, and provided
scholarships for staff development and fellowships for students. The first regional library
school in Africa was founded in Ghana in 1944 through the efforts of the Carnegie
Corporation in collaboration with the British government. However, it closed its doors
after only one year. In 1960 the Carnegie Corporation established the Library School at
Ibadan, Nigeria. Now known as the School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies,

it offers paraprofessional training and bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees to
enable students to become professional librarians.

The East African School of Librarianship at Makerere University, in Uganda, was
established in 1963 in cooperation with three former East African British colonies:
Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. The Council for Library Training in East Africa was
founded at the same time as a governing body for the school. The United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) provided a director and the
British Council offered the services of a lecturer in library and information science.

Also in 1963 UNESCO opened the Regional Center for the Training of Librarians, a
library school at Dakar, Senegal, that served as a regional training center for French-
speaking countries of Africa. Before this, French-speaking Africans received most of
their library training in France. In 1967 the center was attached to the University of Dakar
as the School for Librarians, Archivists, and Documentalists.

In Zambia, the Department of Library Studies was established with UNESCO aid in 1966
as part of the school of education at the University of Zambia. The department of library
science of the University of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, runs a library science program
through postgraduate levels.

At the University of Botswana, in Gaborone, the department of library studies was
created in 1979 to provide paraprofessional training for librarians in Botswana, Lesotho,
and Swaziland. By 1995 the department had become a professional school, offering
training at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate levels and attracting students from
nearly 20 countries.

As far back as 1933, the South African Library Association offered introductory courses
in librarianship based on models established by the British Library Association. In 1948
the University of Pretoria introduced undergraduate courses in library science, and most
other universities in South Africa followed suit during the 1950s and 1960s. Today,
several South African universities offer postgraduate training in library and information
science.

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