Libraries

Libraries have always been a source of solace and solitude to me through most of my life.

I was one of those cliché kids that gets cut off from their peer groups and ends up having to spend most of their time alone. So living right across from the Scottsdale Branch of the Chicago Public Library, I ended up spending most of my days with biographies of Leonardo Da’ Vinci and the novels of Stephen King and Lillian Jackson Braun rather then seeing how far I could spit a wad of paper across an alley.

Remarkably, even in our information heavy world they still are a sacred place to many people from all walks of life.

Partially this has something to do with most library systems moving forward to the point that they offer more then dusty old books.

Today’s libraries offer DVD rentals and public computers right alongside the works of Dickens and Shakespeare. They offer community events that today go way beyond the screening of an old Walt Disney film from the sixties (You know the ones: The Cat From Outer Space or The Apple Dumpling Gang. That sort of thing).

However, libraries were also the internet before the first bloop or bleep was heard from one computer calling another. So libraries have moved forward from it’s old image of books and magazines to the age of digital media and community relations in an attempt to stay current and survive in an age where most people can ‘Google’ an answer from their smart phone.

The earliest form of library dates back to 2600 BC in Sumer. Much like the Egyptians after them, in this case the collection of stone tablets mostly consisted of a record for transactions and inventory rather than the latest mystery or suspense novels.

Later, the Mesopotamian culture created the Library of Ashurbanipal, where clay tablets were filled not only with religious texts but also knowledge of interest to scholars such as translation guides, medical information and word lists.

Time moved on and the libraries with it, as the Romans moved the idea westward and started a trend when most collections of books and knowledge were the exclusive privilege of those who were scholars or had access to the collections via other means.

Lincolnshire in England is the first place a modern ‘lending’ library for the general public was introduced when the Francis Trigge Chained Library opened in Grantham in 1598.

Americans got their first taste of bookish goodness in 1876 when the American Library Association was formed. It was also the year Melvil Dewey introduced his decimal system of classification that would be taught to American school children for generations.

After the American Civil War, many woman’s groups sprung up across the nation and one thing these groups did was take to the libraries of the United States as a shelter as well as a home in those post war years. Forming book clubs and social events, they also lobbied for more and more libraries in different locations, one of the main reasons many areas have a local library branch today.

It would appear the libraries have definitely stood alongside knowledge and record keeping as one of the most progressive moves we have made as a species. A viable collection of information that while once the privilege of the elite have been made available to all.

Now doesn’t that make you want to visit your library and pick up a good book for the cooler Fall weather ahead?