The History of Libraries

Podcast Transcript

As quickly as people developed methods of writing, they confronted an issue. What to do with all the issues that have been written down?

For those who have been going to doc the lives of kings or tax data, then you definitely want to have the ability to reference these particulars at some later date.

The answer to the issue was the creation of repositories for paperwork. Whereas they’ve modified dramatically over time, the identical fundamental establishments are nonetheless with us as we speak.

Study extra about libraries and the way they modified over time on this episode of Every part All over the place Every day.

When people first began to write down issues down, they did so utilizing cuniform and clay tablets.

This was a giant development in that it allowed for the preservation of ideas, concepts, and data. Nevertheless, it then launched a brand new drawback.

What do you do with all the clay tablets?

The reply was fairly easy. You construct a big storage facility or warehouse for them.

There are rooms with clay tablets present in Sumerian temples, which date again about 4500 years in the past. These weren’t actually libraries as they’d come to be recognized, however that’s how libraries bought their begin. They have been simply locations to retailer writings the place the literate class, often clergymen or scribes, may entry them.

The very first thing we may name a correct library was most likely the Library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh in modern-day Iraq. Ashurbanipal was the final nice king of the Assyrian Empire, round 700 BC.

Along with being a terrific basic, Ashurbanipal was additionally an mental. He had his library constructed for his personal functions. It was found in 1849, and the library accommodates over 30,000 clay tablets, most of that are damaged.

Lots of the tables include correspondence, proclamations, and monetary paperwork.

The remainder principally cope with spiritual texts from Sumaria and surrounding kingdoms.

There are additionally some works of philosophy and a small variety of literary works.

Nearly all the tablets have an inscription on them indicating they belong to Ashurbanipal’s library.

There have been related archives for written materials in historical Egypt, besides as an alternative of clay tablets, they held papyrus scrolls.

The best library of the traditional world was unquestionably the Library of Alexandria.

The Library of Alexandria had its origins with Ptolemy I Soter, who was one of many generals of Alexander the Nice.

I’ve mentioned the origins of the Metropolis of Alexandria and the Library of Alexandria in a earlier episode. For the aim of this episode, the essential factor in regards to the Library of Alexandria is that it was constructed with the intent of being a common library.

It additionally served as one thing greater than only a warehouse for texts. The library was a middle for studying. The Musaeum, which was part of the library, was the traditional equal of a college and was dwelling to a few of the best minds within the historical world for hundreds of years.

Whereas the Library of Alexandria was the best library within the historical world, it was removed from the one one.

The Library of Pergamum, established across the similar time because the Library of Alexandria, was positioned within the Greek metropolis of the identical identify in what’s as we speak Western Turkey.

Based on legend, within the yr 43 BC, Mark Antony gave all 200,000 from the library to Queen Cleopatra as a present to exchange the misplaced texts from the fireplace of Alexandria.

Augustus later changed lots of the scrolls taken in a goodwill gesture to undo what Antony had executed.

The Library of Celsus was one other Roman library in-built Western Turkey. It was constructed as a tribute to Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, who was the governor of the province of Asia.

Whereas there have been a small variety of nice libraries, they have been few and much between. It might require an extended journey to succeed in one. Extra frequent have been personal libraries, which could possibly be discovered within the properties of the rich.

Probably the most well-known instance of a personal library was the Villa of the Papyri within the city of Herculaneum, simply outdoors of Pompeii.

Excavations of the villa within the Nineteenth century found over 1,800 charred scrolls.

The story of the Herculaneum papyri is an interesting story that will likely be worthy of an episode of its personal sooner or later, however suffice it to say a private library of this many scrolls was most likely not unusual amongst the rich.

The thinker Seneca really complained about personal libraries. He felt they have been principally for present, oftentimes owned by individuals who couldn’t even learn.

It was through the late Republican interval of Rome that the primary public library opened. It was created by one in every of Julius Caesar’s lieutenants, Asinius Pollio. It was referred to as the Anla Libertatis, and it was positioned close to the Roman Discussion board.

Subsequent emperors constructed their very own libraries in Rome in an try and curry favor with the general public and outshine their predecessors.

China had its personal system for libraries.

Within the first century, the Chinese language scholar Liu Xin created the primary classification system for texts in a library.

The third century noticed the institution of the primary imperial libraries through the Han Dynasty.

Libraries additionally appeared in Persia and India, and to a point, in each civilization that had a type of writing. The Academy of Gundeshapur in modern-day Iran was dwelling to the best library within the Sassanid empire.

When Constantine the Nice established a brand new Roman capital in Constantinople, he established the Imperial Library of Constantinople. It will definitely grew to 120,000 scrolls and texts however was later devastated when crusaders sacked town in 1204.

In western Europe, with the autumn of the Roman empire and the rise of Christianity, libraries tended to be positioned in monasteries. Monks would meticulously copy texts and carry out illustrations in books. Nevertheless, Christians in western Europe tended to solely care about Christian books.

One of many best monastic libraries on the earth is positioned on the Abbey of Saint Gall in Switzerland. I had the pleasure of visiting it a number of years in the past, and it’s really one of the vital lovely libraries on the earth. It’s price a visit to St. Gall simply to see it.

Lots of the nice works from Greece and the east have been preserved and copied by libraries within the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic Caliphate. They’re the rationale why we’ve many of those works as we speak.

In Baghdad, was created what was most likely the best library on the earth after the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, The Home of Knowledge.

The Home of Knowledge was the middle of Islamic thought and studying through the Golden age of Islam. It existed for nearly 500 years till its destruction in 1258 by the Mongols within the Siege of Baghdad.

Throughout this whole time, and for a number of centuries after, books and scrolls have been relatively uncommon and costly. Copying a textual content was extremely time-consuming, and it needed to be copied completely.

The fabric used for many texts was parchment, which was constructed from animal skins and was fairly costly. Even the appearance of paper, whereas it was cheaper, was nonetheless comparatively costly as a result of it was constructed from fabric.

On high of the prices related to copying or making a e book, the actual fact was the most individuals couldn’t learn.

Issues modified profoundly with the invention of the printing press. The printing press radically elevated the variety of books accessible and correspondingly decreased the worth. As a substitute of books being copied one by one, over a interval of months, you possibly can now create tons of of copies in a really brief time frame.

The variety of libraries exploded all through Europe. They have been now not solely managed by monasteries.

Kings and rich patrons established their very own libraries. Pope Nicholas V began the Vatican Library, the Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, which was to be a public library open to students.

You additionally noticed libraries that have been related to main universities.

The Bodleian Library at Oxford College was established in 1602 and is among the oldest libraries in Europe.

The Protestant Reformation noticed the creation of libraries for particular person communities, which was one thing that hadn’t existed since Rome. By the identical token, the Thirty 12 months Battle additionally noticed the destruction of many libraries as effectively.

Whereas libraries proliferated, they nonetheless weren’t essentially what you’d name public. Entry to libraries was often restricted to members of a given college or church.

The event of true public libraries started within the early seventeenth century. These have been often called “chain libraries.” The books have been connected to chains which have been connected to the cabinets. The chains have been lengthy sufficient that you possibly can sit at a desk and skim the e book however not lengthy sufficient to be taken some place else to be learn.

The early 18th century noticed the rise of lending libraries and subscription libraries. That is the kind of library that the majority of you is perhaps acquainted with. In a lending library, you’ll be able to take a e book out of the library and produce it dwelling to learn. Previous to the event of lending libraries, texts needed to keep on the premises as a result of they have been too uncommon and costly to go away the constructing.

Most of those libraries have been subscription libraries, which have been privately owned. You needed to buy a subscription to the library, type of like becoming a member of a health club or health membership as we speak.

The 18th century additionally noticed the beginning of the British Library. It was initially simply part of the British Museum however finally grew attributable to donations from a number of massive personal libraries, together with the libraries of King George I and II.

One of many issues which ensured the British Library would achieve success was a legislation handed in 1757, which mandated {that a} copy of each e book revealed in Britain be despatched to the British Library.

By the beginning of the Nineteenth century, circulating libraries turned in style in Nice Britain. A circulating library is similar to a subscription library, besides that they catered extra in direction of the calls for of the general public, which often meant works of up to date fiction.

In 1800, the US established the Library of Congress, which was initially meant to be the library for congress itself. It misplaced a substantial a part of its assortment within the struggle of 1812 after which bought the complete assortment from Thomas Jefferson to make up for it.

After the civil struggle, congress handed a legislation just like that in Britain, which required two copies of all works printed in the US to be despatched to the Library of Congress.

By the mid-Nineteenth century, there have been over 500 subscription or circulation libraries that have been open to the general public in Britain. These have been open to the general public however have been nonetheless privately owned and operated.

The British Public Libraries Act of 1850 allowed native municipalities with over 10,000 folks to determine their very own free libraries utilizing taxes.

In the US, the primary free library was established in 1833 in Peterborough, New Hampshire.

After the Civil Battle, free libraries started to develop in significance as the necessity for common literacy turned broadly accepted.

The one that was single-handedly liable for the explosion in free libraries within the US, UK, and different Commonwealth nations, was the American industrialist Andrew Carnegie.

Carnegie was liable for over 2500 libraries world wide, together with 1,689 in the US, 660 in the UK, and 125 in Canada, plus libraries that have been established in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and lots of different nations.

Carnegie didn’t simply throw cash at libraries. He gave grants to native communities with a number of circumstances connected.

The group had to offer the land, they needed to pay the working prices of the library, and so they had to offer free service to everybody. This ensured that each library could be an ongoing concern effectively into the longer term.

Carnegie library grants got out between 1883 and 1929, a interval that noticed an explosion within the progress of libraries. By 1919, half of all libraries in the US had been constructed by Carnegie grants.

In southern states which had segregated libraries, he constructed libraries particularly for African American patrons.

Adjusted for inflation, the Carnegie library program stays one of many single largest philanthropic initiatives in historical past.

At present libraries are ubiquitous. They are often present in virtually each college at each grade degree. Even very small communities have small libraries.

Within the twenty first century, the function of a library has modified. They’ve developed to incorporate digital assets, resembling e-books, on-line journals, and multimedia content material. With the appearance of the web and digital media, libraries have turn into much more essential in serving to folks navigate the huge quantity of data accessible and offering entry to dependable sources.

Whereas libraries have modified and can proceed to alter over the approaching years, there’s nonetheless a direct line connecting the fashionable digital libraries of as we speak with King Ashurbanipal’s rooms of clay tablets.

The Government Producer of Every part All over the place Every day is Charles Daniel.

The affiliate producers are Thor Thomsen and Peter Bennett.

At present’s overview comes from listener Killer659 over on Apple Podcasts in Canada. They write:

Nice podcast

I hearken to this throughout my bedtime routine, and I can undoubtedly say this is among the greatest podcasts I’ve discovered from an advert. One factor I believe could possibly be enjoyable is doing extra episodes about dinosaurs and ice age creatures, though I do considerably perceive why Gary isn’t doing a lot of that. Aside from that… 17 stars.

Thanks, Killer! Dinosaurs are undoubtedly one thing I haven’t executed a lot on as of but. There are a complete bunch of how I may strategy the subject, and I do have some paleontology associated episodes on the checklist.

Bear in mind, if you happen to depart a overview or ship me a boostagram, you can also have it learn on the present.

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