Two and Three Quarters Millenia of Libraries

By now you will have read that SLA is ninety years old, but did you know that SLA's library is fifty-five years old? A library at SLA's executive office was established in 1943-44. The establishment of "a small professional literature library" was approved, and the summer months were devoted to "building up a small well-rounded collection." And what a year that was. The president authorized the purchase of two additional chairs and a typewriter chair, but not a typewriter, and the "entire building at 31 East Tenth Street was burglarized." It was reported that the complete loss to the association was two fountain pens. How they missed the two new chairs and typewriter chair remains one of those classic mysteries. Mr. Spielberg, how about it???.

The library, now known as the Information Resources Center (IRC) has come a long way since then. It is still physically situated in SLA's executive office, but the IRC is becoming homeless, now being "situated" in the PCs of every home, office, or library throughout the world. I have not researched the development of the IRC over its fifty-five year history, but its greatest changes must have come in the last two or three years with the virtualization of its services. How have we arrived at this mind-boggling scenario in the information industry?

The founding of the first library is credited to the Assyrian king Sargon II who reigned from 722 to 705 BC.(1) Settled agricultural life is thought to have begun in Assyria in 6500 BC. so the establishment of a library did not happen "over night!!" Alexander the Great (336-323 BC) defeated the heir to the Assyrian Empire, Darius, King of Persia, (336-330 BC) on his way to his conquest of Egypt and the building of Alexandria. It was in Alexandria, the cultural and intellectual capital of the western world, that the first major world library was established during the reign of King Ptolemy II Philadelphus, probably in 284 BC.(2) This library, said to have contained 700,000 volumes was destroyed by the caliph Omar in 640 AD. Its successor as the major world library was the Vatican Apostolic Library, probably founded in the fourth century a.d., but not given prominence until the reign of Pope Nicholas V (1447-1455). Nicholas greatly enlarged the library by his purchase of the remains of the imperial library of Constantinople, recently conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1453.(3) The present beautiful Vatican library was commissioned by Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590) in 1585. By the late twentieth century, the library possessed 65,000 manuscripts (mostly in Latin or Greek) and more than 900,000 printed volumes.(4) When Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) opened the library to the public he is alleged to have said, "we will open this Library because God does not need our lies."

The Bibliotheque Nationale de France (BNF) was created at a single site at Fontainebleau by King Francis I (1515-1547) in 1522. In 1537 the king decreed that all printers and booksellers should deposit copies of any printed book put on sale in the kingdom at the library.(5) Even a century later in 1622, the inventory listed only 4,712 manuscripts and printed works. Compare this with the 700,000 volumes said to be housed in the library of Alexandria at least a 1,000 years earlier. What an amazing library that must have been. The BNF now houses on its two sites in Paris over 30 million books, periodicals, maps, prints, photographs, manuscripts, coins, music, sound archives and audiovisual material, and posters.(6) In true French tradition the new library extension at Tolbiac, opened in 1996, is a masterpiece of architecture and modern technology (http://www.bnf.fr/institution/angalis/tolgb.htm) .

The Bodleian Library in the University of Oxford is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in England is second only to the British Library. The first real library at the university was established in about 1320, but it had a chequered history until 1598 when Sir Thomas Bodley decided to devote his time to restoring the old university library. In his own words, "... I coulde not busie myselfe to better purpose, than by redusing the place (which then in every part laye ruined and wast) to the publique use of Students."(7) The famous Radcliffe Camera, a large circular building with a lofty dome, now housing two undergraduate reading rooms, is connected to the Old Library by a subway (http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/history/BODPAM09.HTML). In the ongoing tradition of wonderful library architecture the main gateway to the Bodleian quadrangle is through the fascinating seventeenth century Tower of the Five Orders of Architecture (Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite). The Bodleian Library now houses nearly 8.5 million volumes, maps, and microforms.(8) The British Library, then the Departments of Manuscripts and of Printed Books of the British Museum, dates back to 1753.(9) As with the French National Library, there is a law requiring the deposit of a copy of every work published in the United Kingdom, although this was not enforced effectively until the mid-nineteenth century. It was in the famous Reading Room of the library that Karl Marx (1818-1883) researched Das Kapital, the first volume of which was published in 1867. This great circular reading room with its high domed ceiling reminds one of the reading room in the Library of Congress, which was completed in 1897.

The Library of Congress, America's oldest national cultural institution, was approved by an act of Congress in 1800.(10) In its bicentennial year it is now the largest library in the world, and also, in the words of the Librarian of Congress, "the largest repository of recorded knowledge and a symbol of the vital connection between knowledge and democracy."(11) In 1992 the 100 millionth item was added to the library's collection. The library's web site is already attracting more than 60 million hits a month.(12) Space does not permit me to discuss the many major libraries throughout the world that have played a vital role in the storing and dissemination of information. Somehow I could not end without referring to the National Library of China in Peking, which amongst its vast collection, contains inscribed tortoise shells and bones.(13) Information has come a long way from being recorded on tortoise shells and bones!

1 Encarta® Online.(http://encarta.msn.com/encarta)

2 Webster's New World Encyclopedia, College Edition. New York, NY: Prentice Hall, 1993.

3 Encyclopedia Britannica Online. (http://www.eb.com )

4 Encyclopedia Britannica Online. (http://www.eb.com )

5 The Bibliotheque Nationale de France.(http://www.bnf.fr/institution/anglais/history.htm )

6 The Bibliotheque Nationale de France. (http://www.bnf.fr/institution/anglais/chiffgb.htm)

7 Bodleian Library, A Brief History.(http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/history/BODPAM01.HTML)

8 Bodleian Library Statistical Factsheet no: 21.(http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/mh/facts21.HTM)

9 History of the British Library. (http://www.bl.uk/information/bl-history.html )

10 Jefferson's Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress.(http://lcweb.loc.gov/loc/ legacy/colls.html )

11 Jefferson's Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress(http://lcweb.loc.gov/loc/ legacy/preface.html ) .

12 Library of Congress Bicentennial - A Message from the Librarian of Congress.(http://lcweb.loc.gov/bicentennial/about_message.html)

13 Encyclopedia Britannica Online. (http://www.eb.com )