Libraries

The access to informational and artistic resources offered by the existence of and support for libraries has played a substantial part in the course of world culture and history. The ability to disseminate ideas and concepts integral to political, social or religious systems has been a central motivation for governments or other powerful organizations to create such institutions. Though today countries existing as liberal democracies assume that to a large degree libraries should serve as bases for the free interchange of ideas, even those that may be perceived as threatening or destabilizing for the status quo, in the past the library concept has been more circumscribed by the ideological make-up and pragmatic considerations of the sources for their creation. In understanding how the creation and use of libraries has shifted along with the changes in political systems and in balances of power between different areas of the world, the informed library user who feels strongly dependent on the kinds of services they offer may gain insight into how such rights can continue to be defended.

Historians studying the progressing development of the library as a force in human society frequently point to the first instances in which archives of written records began to be maintained. In the ancient Middle Eastern city of Sumer, for instance, archeological digs have revealed the existence of rooms filled with clay tablets. Other early libraries found in the format of an archival collection of documents are located in the uncovered palaces of ancient Egypt. The early libraries, if these archives can be described as such, consisted mainly of records related to commercial and trade deals. Only a few exceptional cases had anything to do with matters of historical, religious, or literary concern. A notable early source for research on ancient literature exists in the city of Nineveh, which among other things offered access to the epic poem centered on the adventures of the hero Gilgamesh.

Greek society in the fifth century B.C. is believed to be the first with citizens who were in possession of their own libraries. In the late second century B.C. a literary work was published which listed the number of well known private library collectors. As power over the Mediterranean and European world passed over to the auspices of Rome, the first instances of a public library being available to private citizens occurs in the reign of Augustus, as the Republic transitioned into an era of being considered an Empire. Usually users could not take materials, then offered in the form of scrolls, from a Roman library, but they did enjoy general access to the facilities of such institutions, which differed from the model of the classical Greeks. Library creation also came to be considered a reputable and prestige building activity for Roman emperors. Another important step for the development of the library concept occurred during the rise of the Islamic world toward the end of the first millennium C.E, which imported Chinese paper and preserved classic texts in their collections.