Library an Unquiet History by Matthew Battles

1. Library an Unquiet HistorybyMatthew Battles matthewbattles.com/othermb/index.htm

2. Two types of Libraries • Universal • - “books not treated as precious” • - “must be counted and classified before they may be desired •                                 p. 9 Parnassan -model of the universe -essence of all that is good and beautiful

3. Library of Alexandriaprototype of the modern era university Library of Alexandria http://www.utexas.edu/courses/introtogreece/cc301/anclibalexext.html

4. Papyrus with Greek Lettering http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/greek/papyri.html

5. Ptolemites – Knowledge is a resource, a form of commodity p.29 http://www.utexas.edu/courses/introtogreece/cc301/anclibalexint.html

6. Qin Emperor - Shi Huangdi- ruled by destruction and fear http://www.globalmountainsummit.org/terra-cotta-warriors.html

7. "A monopoly on intellectual resources is as important to rule as the control of the production of rice and salt." p.37

8. People have always found a way to pass on knowledge. This is a stone stele. http://wyunwanww.yingg.com/?p=155

9. Biblioclasms • Accidental - Alexandria, Palatine Library • Purposeful -         -revision - Shi Huangdi, Early Islam           -comprehensive - erase history and authors                                     -Mexico                    p.42 http://www.thebackyardsteakpit.com/images/fire_graphic.jpg

10. Mexico Not only did the Spaniards burn the books of the  Mexican peoples, the Aztecs also burned the books of their predecessors. They were able to create a new history for themselves. p.44 http://thelesseroftwoequals.wordpress.com/category/literature-columns/

11. Rome Palatine Library Libraries in Private Palaces, Temples and Public Baths      -available to all Roman Emperors did not seek to "control over the life of the mind" p. 48

12. Codices from the Ng Hammadi Library http://historyofscience.comG2I/timeline/images/nag_hammadi_codices.jpg

13. The House of Wisdom A Thousand Years of Muslim Library Building hhttp://ocw.nd.edu/arabic-and-middle-east-studies/islamic-societies-of-the-middle-east-and-north/lectures/lecture-3

14. Place for translation, education and research. Eager to learn form all of the countries they conquered. Persian texts Hellenic philosophy and science Hindu mathematics                                   p. 64-65 House of Wisdom http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Image-Al-Kit%C4%81b_al-mu%E1%B8%ABta%E1%B9%A3ar_f%C4%AB_%E1%B8%A5is%C4%81b_al-%C4%9Fabr_wa-l-muq%C4%81bala.jpg

15. Oldest Illustrated Manuscript in Arabic c.1009http://historyofscience.com/G2I/timeline/images/ms_marsh_144-f325r-326v.jpg

16. Much of Western Book Culture Owes its Heritage to Islam • Papermaking - Learned from Chinese prisoners • Sewn Leather Binding - from the Ethiopians • Calligraphers and Illustrators of Islam turn books into things of beauty. p. 64  www.salamiran.org/.../calligraphy/index.html

17. San Marco convent http://www.life.com/image/50381790 Library of the Sorbonne http://www.spirit-of-paris.com/2006/01/01/the-library-of-the-sorbonne.html Early Renaissance

18. Vatican Library http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/23/arts/design/23libr.html

19. Sir William Temple Jonathan Swift classical "was it possible, or even desirable,that people should build upon the wisdom of the ancient? p. 88 "decried the proliferation of text engendered by the printing press" p. 90 Francis Bacon - observation and experimentation memory  wisdom imagination organizing principle of empirical thought. p.83 Richard Bentley and William Wooten saw vigor and potential in the proliferation of books. p. 91 Library as Battleground

20. And The Winner is...(eventually) Bentley becomes keeper of the Royal Library and "turns it from a curiosity collection to an international institution of higher learning." p. 93 created a universal library - wanted enough books on the shelves so everyone would have something to read. p. 94 "He firmly felt that the work of finding,keeping and organizing a scholarly collection of books was essential to modern scholarship, and that the keeping of libraries should be entrusted to people whose intellectual development was strong and unhindered." p. 116

21. 19th Century Steam powered presses changed book printing from an artisanal craft to the subject of mass production. ~ A book for everyone! ~ Library changes from a temple to a market.  Librarians are caregivers instead of custodians. picasaweb.google.com

22. Greater access to information benefits society as a whole. • By reading usefully, patrons advance themselves and society. • “A book for every person.” • Max Beerbohm. • Page 118

23. 1837 criminal who escaped Modena and worked for the British Museum Library. • Created the Reading Room. • Library Catalog is not a tool for librarians, but a tool for the public. • Introduced a numerical catalog based on book location in the library. http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/history_and_the_building/reading_room.aspx http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/history_and_the_building/reading_room.aspx

24. “As a man’s understanding is directed to some laudable pursuit, his desire for information will increase; he will become decent in his conduct. Such a man will frequently rise as the uninformed man sinks.” Francis Place Page 135

25. In a well tended library, each book’s value to society increases as more people gain access to and use it. • Greater access to information benefits society as a whole. • John Stuart Mill and Francis Place • Page 136

26. Panizzi’s numerical cataloging system + Bacon’s theory of classifying by history, poetry & philosophy = Dewey Decimal System of classifying books by the knowledge imparted.

27. Know your customer. • Patrons don’t know what they need and it’s up to the librarian to remedy. • A librarian should be sensitive to the needs and capabilities of clients. • Librarian is the custodian of the new library and guides the progress of the community as a whole with a finger on the pulse of political, economic situations and cultural needs & tastes. (Think Henry Higgins) Page 149

28. A Nazi book burning staged by Nazi student sympathizers . Goebbels was pleased and took credit for the Reich. In the next twelve years, the Nazi’s burned: 100 million books 6 million humans

29. - http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/greatest-novels-of-all-time/3#i100 http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/greatest-book-covers/21#i1034 http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/greatest-novels-of-all-time/5 The destruction of libraries was perpetrated by the Nazi’s to control knowledge, language, and art.

30. “The ghetto reader is psychologically crippled; his highest ideal is to escape….. His minimal concern is that he at he very least will survive…Only two things are possible: reading for the purpose of intoxication……or reading in order to ponder…… The reader often likes to use a book as a mirror, as a reflection of his situation and the surrounding conditions.” Herman Kruk Former head of the Warsaw Library p178

31. Louvain University Library in 1914 & 1940 • Tibetan Monasteries • Hakem Nasser Khosrow Balki Cultural Center-1978 • Tamil Library in Sri Lanka-1981 • Bosnian National Library-1992 • Bosnian National Museum & Archives of Herzegovenia-1992 • Oriental Institue-1992

32. “The Library is unlimited and cyclical” Jorge Luis Borges Page 18 www.meditation24-7.com

33. The people who shelve the books in Widener talk about the library’s breathing-at the start of the term, the stacks exhale books in great swirling clouds; at the end of the term, the library inhales, and the books fly back. Battles, pg 6.