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The History of Libraries: Through the Ages
Library by Boltron on Flickr
Libraries have a reputation for being oh-so-boring places you visit only
when you absolutely must. But on the contrary, these all-inclusive
establishments are your friendly neighborhood cultural catchalls, holding the
historical relics, documented research and readings of communities, governments
and entire societies, dating back decades and sometimes even centuries or
millenniums.
There is no doubt that libraries have had an impressively direct and
significant impact on societies all over the world for thousands of years.
Creating and providing an outlet for technological advancements, introducing
and nurturing cultural artifacts, supporting the rise of various religions and
helping to maintain a sense of historical structure, they have managed to help
communities survive and thrive via numerous artistic outlets.
They’ve contributed immensely to our modern culture. But how did they get
their start?
The Beginning: Archeological Findings of Ancient Libraries
Since the beginning of time, there has been a need to preserve artifacts in
some fashion for later appreciation by new generations. As a result, it seems
there has always been some form of a library in existence.
Archives of Egyptian historical records and literature.
Archeologists have spent centuries pulling together bits and pieces of
history about our past. As a result of their research, they have managed to
find what seems to be proof of the first libraries located in ancient Egypt.
Most of their conclusions were drawn from the information gathered by
previous thinkers, philosophers and scientists who visited Egypt and were able
to gather proof of documents found throughout the country in safe places
equipped to store the documents.
In the paper,
The
Library in Ancient Egypt, Cairo University professor Dr. Abdel-Halim
Nureddin explained that these safe places could only be described as libraries
in that they required “classification, presentation and staff (librarians and
many others)” just as modern libraries do today.
Clay tablets and papyrus plants contributed to first libraries.
Of course, in order to have a library, something must fill it up. In the
ancient days of Egypt, the items took the form of clay tablets and papyrus
plants.
As noted by Nureddin, researchers have learned that clay tablets were used
as the primary medium for communication for many years. Inscriptions were
carved into the wet clay surface using a stylus as the writing tool. Once dry,
they took the form that archeologists have managed to dig up for centuries.
The inscribed clay tablets were thought to be used
nearly
5,000 years ago, as early as 3020 B.C., for the use of theological matters,
historical records and legends. However, as the centuries passed, a transition
was made from clay tablets to
papyrus plants
that were used in a similar fashion as modern-day paper.
The Egyptians used the papyrus plant to create scrolls (or rolls) because
they were light, durable, strong, thin and much easier to carry than the clay
tablets. The papyrus plant was so popular that it was used centuries later in
places like the
holy
city of Nippur, a part of the ancient Near East, as a way to create lists
of Sumerian works of literature (myths, hymns, laments).
In fact, the concept was able to carry over into modern times serving as the
direct reason that we use trees for
paper (the
English word for papyrus) today.
The ancient library classification system.
With many societies placing so many of their ideas into written form, it was
only a matter of time that the works would require some sort of organization.
Research has shown that as early as 700 B.C., the first library classification
system may have existed in
Nineveh to
accommodate their standardized writing.
However, these discoveries weren’t made until thousands of years later, in
1850, when
workmen
of Sir Austen Henry Layard at Nineveh found clay tablets in the ruins of
the palace of
Assur-bani-pal
that had fallen from shelves.
What was interesting about the tablets was that they had been arranged in
order. Researchers examining the ancient method determined that the people of
Nineveh had formed what would be considered a library. In fact, some believe
that the
great library of
Nineveh owed its existence to Assur-bani-pal.
A photograph of Tablet 4 of Gilgamesh, 669-627 B.C.
Over time, more than 30,000 clay tablets were discovered from the ruins in
Nineveh and formed a collection called the
Royal
Library of Ashurbanipal (the collection is now found in the
British Museum). It showcases the
amazing Mesopotamian works and how they were organized into a system.
Classical Greek and Ancient Roman Libraries Step It up a Notch
The early attempts at libraries were indeed impressive, but as the centuries
passed, new societies found their own ways of giving order to the writings and
artistic efforts of their time – and in doing so were able to improve on the
institution. Two of the first to make this effort were the Greeks and Romans.
Poets and philosophers received recognition.
In Greece around the 5th century B.C., private libraries were made up of non-fiction
and fiction books, as opposed to societal or institutional records found in the
societies prior. The works of poets like
Euripides and
philosophers like
Aristotle
were read and appreciated in classical Greek homes.
The next level of classification in Greece.
By around 296 B.C., another form of library organization became popularized.
What’s interesting about this system, however, is that it was similar to the
cataloging system found in the
United
States Library of Congress, in that it is alphabetical. The classification
system was designed by
Greek poet
and scholar Callimachus and was used continuously during third century B.C.
and throughout the Roman Empire.
Romans expanded to community-centered libraries.
Because the highly-advanced Greek culture had a heavy influence on the
Ancient Roman culture, it was only a matter of time before works of the time
were found in the homes of Roman citizens.
In the paper,
Ancient
Libraries of Greece and Rome by Cornell University librarian, Jacalyn
C. Spoon, she explained that having books in the home was so important that it
was highlighted by the family paintings people displayed. “The importance of
literacy and books to the Roman people is clear in the portraits created,” she
wrote.
Ancient Roman fresco woman holding a stylus and book
However, the Romans not only showcased the importance of books in the home,
they expanded the concept by creating their version of the community-center (or
public) libraries. Even Julius Caesar
hoped
to build a public library in Rome; however, he was assassinated before he
was able to do so.
A significant contributor to
the
ancient Roman library was the wealth of the people of Rome. Learning was a
big deal and something that was celebrated, which made citizens – especially
the “learned men” –eager to share their knowledge.
After Caesar was murdered, numerous libraries were built, including two
founded by Emperor
Augustus
and others by his successor
Tiberius.
Many libraries used the classification system derived from Greece and allow
citizens to read or copy scrolls in both Latin and Greek.
Switching from scrolls to codex.
As more years progressed, libraries began to shift from the scrolls that had
become commonplace to and more suitable codex format. The
codex format was developed by the
Romans in the 1st century A.D. from wooden writing tablets.
Noted difference between the scroll (roll) and codex
Codex was praised for its advantages over scroll because it was compact,
sturdy and easy to use in terms of reference. By around 300 A.D., they were
just as popular, if not more so, than the scroll. It also should be noted that
codex was the first and current format of the Bible.
Early Islamic and Christian Religions Help Expand Libraries
As the years progressed, so did the advancement of libraries. By the 8th and
9th centuries, libraries began to expand through the newly Islamic lands known
as the Middle East, as well as North Africa, Sicily and Spain.
Religion was the foundation of Islamic libraries.
Religion was deeply rooted in Islamic libraries. In fact, the
first libraries in the Islamic
civilization were at mosques and the first book to enter was the
Qur’an. However, libraries also played a major
role in changing the way people communicated. During this time, Muslims saw a
significant shift from oral to written communication.
Islamic libraries grew in size and adopted modern qualities.
As libraries developed, they followed what the Romans started by adding
books made mostly of paper and taking on a codex form. But Islamic libraries
were able to expand on the concept of the library by increasing in size. The
largest library of the period and global region would have been the
Sufiya,
the oldest mosque library, which was found in
Aleppo and housed an
estimated 10,000 volumes.
Then around the 8th century, Iranians and Arabs imported the craft of
papermaking
from China and began utilizing a
paper mill in
Baghdad. These early advancements enhanced public libraries and eventually
helped them expand significantly throughout many Islamic cities by the 9th
century.
Ancient Chinese papermaking, by Cai Lun in 105 AD.
Because the libraries were become so popular and well-occupied, leaders in
the Middle East began building complex structures that would offer an
impressive scenic quality to the standard structure. Some were surrounded by
gorgeous gardens with lakes and waterways, while others added hundreds of rooms
to accommodate catalogues, large seating areas and even areas for translators
and copyists for the Persian, Greek, Roman and Sanskrit non-fiction and other
literature.
Medieval Christian libraries emerged while others fell away.
Centuries after citizens put so much hard work into building and nurturing
them, most Islamic libraries were destroyed by
Mongolian
invasions. Unfortunately, many Roman libraries suffered a similar fate due
to a cutback in funds dedicated to literacy.
However, while the challenges of the time were wreaking havoc on some
libraries, others, in particular, libraries that were associated with
Medieval Christian
monasteries, were beginning to crop up in scattered places through the
Christian Middle East.
Interior of the medieval library at the University of Leyden, dated 1610
The concept behind the
medieval library
was to reflect the value in manuscripts and the labor-intensive process that
many had to endure to create them. As a result, many librarians took the time
to chain books to lecterns, armaria or shelves and only would lend them if they
were offered security deposits first.
Chained Library in Wimborne Minster
Lending became acceptable over time.
However, as time marched on, lending books became more popular. This was
largely because librarians began to understand that lending a book to someone
could mean that it would be copied while in the borrower’s possession. And if
the work was copied, eventually the library could have a new title to add to its
collection.
Bookpresses developed through early libraries.
Libraries during this time made a number of significant impacts on the
printing and publishing world. In the early Christian libraries,
bookpresses got their start
by building shelves between back-to-back lecterns.
Libraries found themselves undergoing a number of changes to accommodate
societal changes. Undoubtedly, there were more to come.
The Onset of Modern European and American Libraries
While libraries had already begun to initiate many changes that we still use
today, there were more to come. Many took place with modern European and
American libraries.
The marriage of libraries and academia.
One noticeable trend that occurred around the 15th century in central and
northern Italy was the development of libraries that were purposefully created
by humanists and other enlightened patrons to highlight academia. This
represented a gradual shift from the focus on historical artifacts and religion
that had been a part of the library’s history.
In Europe, university libraries were closely tied to
Monastery libraries, which
were most popular from the 12th to the 15th centuries. Their connection was
obvious from the similarities in architecture to furniture. Also, their way of
collecting and lending books was similar to monasteries in that they chose to
keep their working collections under lock and key and make them only available
for their residents.
However, by the late 15th century, there was a rapid rise in
newly-constructed university library buildings that were separate structures,
yet designated as a part of the college. As the years progressed further,
colleges like
Oxford began petitioning for
funding to increase their library space. These desires for growth would help to
bring on what was known as the “
golden
age of libraries.”
Tower of Five Orders, Old Bodleian Library.
The golden age of libraries.
From the years 1600 to 1700, interest in libraries increased significantly.
This occurred largely because the quantity of books increased and the costs
associated decreased. Even more, there was a renewed interest in
classical
literature and culture, prompting nations to build great libraries and
universities to accommodate and honor them.
During this time, some of the more important libraries were built, including
the
Bodleian Library at
Oxford, the
Mazarine
Library in Paris, the
Library
of the British Museum and the
National
Central Library in Italy.
Public Libraries as We Know Them Today
Throughout history, public libraries had always been significant to
societies. However, it wasn’t until after the golden age of libraries that they
reemerged permanently and became primary establishments in communities around
the world.
England’s creation of the modern public library.
In England, one of the first public libraries used by those who were not
members of an institution such as a cathedral or college was
Francis
Trigge Chained Library in Grantham, Lincolnshire in 1598.
The Trigge Library is considered a forerunner of later public library
systems. However, it wasn’t until the
Public
Libraries Act in 1850 was created by the U.K. Parliament and mandated that
cities populated with 10,000 or more were asked to pay taxes in support of
public libraries.
After the Libraries Act – and the
1870 Public School Law that
helped to increase literacy – were enacted, the demand for libraries
skyrocketed so that by 1877, more than 75 cities had established free
libraries. By 1900, that number had grown to 300.
Public libraries expanded in the U.S.
In the United States, there were tons of examples of libraries that weren’t
quite considered public, yet were very significant. For instance, the
Library Company of Philadelphia, an
independent research library that focused on American society and culture
founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin, was considered to be the first successful
lending library.
The Library Company of Philadelphia’s first building, completed in 1790
In addition, the
Boston Athenaeum,
which was first founded in Boston in 1807, was known as one of the first social
libraries because it encouraged the community (mostly males in the early days)
to come together in a social club setting.
By 1876, members of various library communities saw the need to come
together as librarians and library administrators to promote the establishment.
As a result, the
American Library Association
(ALA) was created. It is the oldest and largest library association in the
world and promotes library education internationally.
New York Public Library’s Main Reading Room
Only 10 years after the creation of the ALA, the first official U.S. public
library was built: the
New York Public Library.
It was founded in 1886 and established by the estate of New York governor
Samuel J. Tilden for $2.4 million. Currently one of the largest library systems
in the world next to the United States’ Library of Congress and the
British Library, it has grown from one to 89
libraries and has more than 50 million items.
Carnegie’s contributions.
Another major contributor to the public library system worldwide was
Andrew Carnegie, a
Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist who was greatly inspired by
libraries and books in his youth. He is known for making great strides in his
effort to bring forth libraries that were not only open to the public, but free
as well.
Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall in Carnegie, Pennsylvania
The first of his Carnegie public library was actually built in 1883 in his
hometown of Dunfermline, Scotland. However, by 1889, he’d built his first
United States library in Braddock, Pennsylvania. Throughout the 1890s, he built
hundreds of libraries and by 1929, 1689 total libraries in the United States
alone had been funded by him with nearly another thousand built in other
countries.
The Dewey classification system. In the same year that the
American Library Association was established,
Melvil Dewey, a
founding member, published his
decimal based system
of classification, which organizes books on library shelves by assigning a
number to a subject category.
For example, 100 is assigned to Philosophy & Psychology and within this
category are subcategories that also have numbers assigned in increments of 10
(i.e. 110 Metaphysics, 120 Epistemology, 130 Paranormal phenomena, etc.)
The system helps librarians and patrons easily locate books on shelves and
is used in 200,000 libraries in at least 135 countries to date. The
classification system has undergone over 20 revisions since its first use,
however. This is largely due to the changes in technology that have required
updates to libraries, specifically in changing their structure to accommodate
the digital era.
Card catalogs and digital libraries.
Card
catalogs got their start in the 1800s when
Charles Folsom, librarian
of the Boston Athenaeum, suggested using a series of card, linked together with
strings, to help keep order to the collection of books found in libraries.
His idea was taken to the next level, when in 1860 Harvard Librarian
John Langdon Sibley proposed
placing cards between two wooden blocks. Over the years, the catalogs moved
into cabinets and became the standard format for locating books. That is,
before the digital library emerged.
Card Catalog in St Paul Public Library, 1958
Digital libraries were
created to accommodate various forms of technology, including print, microform
and of course, the Internet. They have also helped to transition libraries from
the use of card catalogs as a book searching tool. The new use of technology
reflects one of the most proud of the many changes we’ve seen in our globally
since the beginning of libraries.
Modern library departments. As
libraries evolved, their need for organization evolved as well. For that
reason, modern public libraries began developing variations of the following
departments to help maintain order:
Circulation: This department
handles user accounts, as well as loaning and returning and shelving.
Reference: This section is
usually meant for answering user questions or gaining access to specific
reference books. Books in this section are usually not able to be checked out
of the library.
Stacks maintenance: Those who
belong to this department usually have the duty of re-shelving materials that
have been returned to the library. Also, this department reads the material in
the stacks to ensure that they are being classified correctly.
Collections: This department is
in charge of ordering materials and maintaining materials budgets.
Technological services: The
technological services department is usually in charge of cataloguing
materials, as well as developing and maintaining databases to keep materials in
order.
Libraries across the world have come a long way
since their start many millenniums ago. Now there are thousands of public
libraries worldwide and all of them have managed to adjust tremendously as
society has changed, updating cataloging techniques as well as research tools
and media options. And amazingly, they still offer us historical artifacts,
document the current landscape of our lives and even offer a blueprint to guide
us through our futures.
The fate of some libraries has been jeopardies
in recent times due to the current recession and earlier financial troubles.
However, most have managed to stay afloat by turning to their endowments and
investments, as well as accepting contributions from foundations, individual
donors and corporations.
Hopefully, these efforts will make help keep the library’s rich history
going so that we may enjoy it for many centuries to come.
