(image from Wikipedia)
Free memberships, free books, and friendly people that will freely help you find anything you need. Libraries are all kinds of awesome, and they’ve been around a lot longer then you probably think.
In Syria, in the Middle East, ancient libraries that date back to around 1200 BC have been discovered. Around 700 BC, a King in an ancient city called Nineveh (it’s no longer around but was once in the country of Iraq) created what is most likely the first ever systematically collected library in the world, meaning there was a method or purpose for this library, rather than it just being a place to keep things safe.
Around 300 BC, a library in the grand city of Alexandria in Egypt grew very prosperous and very famous. In fact, it is now considered the best and most complete example of an early library. A full staff worked there, and their huge job was to collect and copy all the world’s knowledge. That is, they HAND-COPIED onto papyrus paper any works of literature they could find. This library was open to all scholars everywhere so they could read and study – just like students do these days.
In Medieval times in Europe (around 500-1500 AD), most libraries could be found in church monasteries. In the Renaissance period (about 1400-1700 AD), rich nobleman in Europe built many libraries to safely keep the literature of the times and to preserve copies of ancient Greek and Roman writings.
Jumping ahead in history to around 1800 to early 1900, many important things happened in the development of libraries here in America. A few fast facts:
- In 1790, a small collection of 116 books was made available for free lending to the residents of Franklin, Pennsylvania. This is considered to be the first ever public library in the U.S. The 116 books were given to the town of Franklin as a thank you by a very famous American – Mr. Benjamin Franklin. He gave them because he was grateful they named their town after him!
- In 1833, in Peterborough, New Hampshire, the Town Library was formed, which was the first free public library in the world funded only by taxes.
- The first free continuous children’s library in the United States was founded in 1835 in Arlington, Massachusetts.
- A famous American named Andrew Carnegie – who was always very generous and charitable – had an idea to get more public libraries made. He decided to build and stock a library in any city so long as the citizens there agreed to run it. Therefore, a total of 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929. And not just in the U.S. but across the world too.
And now, more than 3,000 years after the formation of that ancient library in the Middle East, there are an estimated 123,291 public libraries just in the U.S. There is almost certainly one in your school and likely several of them in your community. Each and every one of them is staffed with awesome librarians who are eager to help you find and check out free, fabulous literature. So visit your local library today, grab a book and enjoy some HAPPY READING!
Interested in reading more about libraries? Check out these links:
