In just the last 10 years or so, visitors to libraries have seen a huge change. You'll see less space for books; more space is devoted to movies, audio books, and (of course) computers for the public to use.
Libraries have always been evolving ever since they were organized. That's where Libraries in the Ancient World by Lionel Casson ( 027.09 CAS) is so fascinating. This slim book begins with the Near East where clay tablets were found. The fragments contained law decrees, myths, and bookkeeping records. Archaeologists are finding several of these since clay becomes more durable after a fire, which destroyed many of the buildings where they found the tablets written by Sumerians, Akkadians and other cultures that lived in Mesopotamia.
After a while papyrus became the material of choice for books, which moves the story to Egypt, the best location for growing usable papyrus. A chapter is devoted to the famous library of Alexandria. From there, the author takes us to Rome.
This slim book isn't just about the beginnings of the library - it's also about book making and understanding the importance the written language has on society.
c Waterloo Public Library 2007
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