Ancient Libraries


Book Description

The circulation of books was the motor of classical civilization. However, books were both expensive and rare, and so libraries - private and public, royal and civic - played key roles in articulating intellectual life. This collection, written by an international team of scholars, presents a fundamental reassessment of how ancient libraries came into being, how they were organized and how they were used. Drawing on papyrology and archaeology, and on accounts written by those who read and wrote in them, it presents new research on reading cultures, on book collecting and on the origins of monumental library buildings. Many of the traditional stories told about ancient libraries are challenged. Few were really enormous, none were designed as research centres, and occasional conflagrations do not explain the loss of most ancient texts. But the central place of libraries in Greco-Roman culture emerges more clearly than ever.




Books on Fire


Book Description

Almost as old as the idea of the library is the urge to destroy it. Author Lucien X. Polastron traces the history of this destruction, examining the causes for these disasters, the treasures that have been lost, and where the surviving books, if any, have ended up. Books on Fire received the 2004 Societe des Gens de Lettres Prize for Nonfiction/History in Paris.




Library: An Unquiet History


Book Description

"Splendidly articulate, informative and provoking....A book to be savored and gone back to."—Baltimore Sun On the survival and destruction of knowledge, from Alexandria to the Internet. Through the ages, libraries have not only accumulated and preserved but also shaped, inspired, and obliterated knowledge. Matthew Battles, a rare books librarian and a gifted narrator, takes us on a spirited foray from Boston to Baghdad, from classical scriptoria to medieval monasteries, from the Vatican to the British Library, from socialist reading rooms and rural home libraries to the Information Age. He explores how libraries are built and how they are destroyed, from the decay of the great Alexandrian library to scroll burnings in ancient China to the destruction of Aztec books by the Spanish—and in our own time, the burning of libraries in Europe and Bosnia. Encyclopedic in its breadth and novelistic in its telling, this volume will occupy a treasured place on the bookshelf next to Baker's Double Fold, Basbanes's A Gentle Madness, Manguel's A History of Reading, and Winchester's The Professor and the Madman.




Libraries Through the Ages


Book Description

A history of libraries throughout the world, from those of the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians to the comprehensive libraries of today.




Encyclopedia of Library History


Book Description

First Published in 1994. This book focuses on the historical development of the library as an institution. Its contents assume no single theoretical foundation or philosophical perspective but instead reflect the richly diverse opinions of its many contributors. This text is intended to serve as a reference tool for undergraduate and graduate students interested in library history, for library school educators whose teaching requires knowledge of the historical development of library institutions, services, and user groups, and for practicing library professionals.




Libraries in the Information Age


Book Description

The book Library Media Connection cited as something "all librarians need to have on their shelves" is now thoroughly revised for today's 21st-century library environment. Covering both technology and library practices, the title has been a go-to text for librarians and library school students since 2002. Since the second edition of this must-have book was published in late 2009, libraries have undergone profound changes, primarily linked to advances in technology. We've seen the debut of RDA, the release of new Pew Research library and Internet use data, and the establishment of digital repositories, community MakerSpaces, and "community reads" programs. Of course, libraries have also been affected by the expanding use of social media. This thoroughly updated title addresses all these changes and more, bringing you up to date on the monumental shifts impacting librarianship. The book is designed to introduce LIS students to the profession, preparing them to enter an exciting and evolving world. It clarifies the changing roles and responsibilities of library professionals, new paradigms for evaluating information, and characteristics and functions of today's library personnel. Among other subjects, chapters cover preparing materials for use, circulation, reference services, ethics in the information age, Internet trends, and job search basics. References, websites, and publications at the end of every chapter point to further resources, and appendices supply information such as policies, the library bill of rights, and the Freedom to Read statement.







Library and Information Science in the Age of MOOCs


Book Description

Online education plays an important role across numerous industries. These processes and strategies can be adopted into the library and information science programs for use in assisting with educational developments. Library and Information Science in the Age of MOOCs is a critical scholarly resource that explores the ideas on how library and information science professionals implement the use of massive open online courses in the library and information science domain. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics, such as distance learning, technology enhanced learning, and online learning, this book is geared towards academicians, librarians, and researchers seeking current research on solving problems related to massive open online courses.




Changing the Scope of Library Instruction in the Digital Age


Book Description

The current digital age is impacting the contents and delivery of instructional service in many ways. Instructional sessions not only describe various features of a resource, but these sessions also bring issues like the ethical use of information, copyrights, and the value of open knowledge to light. Librarians are required to help users to learn use these tools. Changing the Scope of Library Instruction in the Digital Age provides emerging information on data visualization tools, creating effective instructions, and instructional design in library sciences. While highlighting the challenges of effectively training new and seasoned librarians in these various aspects of data technology and teaching methods, readers will learn the importance of giving librarians the tools they need to complete their new responsibilities. This book is an important resource for entry level and seasoned librarians, researchers, and instructional design specialists seeking current research on up to date library instruction in the modern technology age.




Readers' Advisory Service in North American Public Libraries, 1870-2005


Book Description

Beginning in the early 1980s, readers' advisory services were a widely discussed topic in North American public libraries. By 2005, almost every public library in the United States and Canada offered some form of readers' advisory service. The services offered have changed significantly, in ways perhaps disadvantageous to adult North American library patrons. This book provides a critical history of readers' advisory philosophy and offers a new perspective on the evolution of the service. The book analyzes the debate that shaped readers' advisory and discusses how the service has assumed its present form. The study follows readers' advisory through its three prominent stages of development, beginning with the period 1870 to 1916, when the service was still a subject of much crucial debate about its meaning and purpose. During the second phase (1917 to 1962), readers' advisory systematically committed itself to meaningful adult education through serious and purposeful reading. The book argues, however, that during the most recent phase of readers' advisory, from 1963 until the present, contemporary public libraries have turned their backs on the rich heritage of readers' advisory services by valorizing the reading of entertainment-oriented and commodified genre titles and bestsellers. Historical analysis, case studies and statistical charts augment the book's central argument.