LIBRARIES

LIBRARIES. What distinguishes libraries in the United States from all others in the world is their emphasis on access. While libraries in many countries collect and preserve those books and other materials that document national heritage, libraries in the United Sates have focused on building collections to meet their patrons' needs. Consequently, American libraries are unrivaled in their ease of use. But the history of the library cannot be told in a single story because there are three distinct types in the United States: academic, special or corporate, and public. Academic libraries are subsets of educational institutions, and their histories reflect the principles and philosophies of their parent organizations. Similarly, the history of special libraries, established by individuals with a particular interest in certain topics, or of corporate libraries, created to support researchers in an organization, parallel the histories of their founders and funders. Only the public library has a history of its own.

University libraries were the first to appear in America (beginning with the Harvard College Library in 1638). The availability of books for the young men who attended universities was an indication that the new nation valued education and knowledge. The presence of books was valued much more than services, but books were scarce, and more than a few British travelers wrote back to their fellow countrymen that the collections found in the United States were not worthy of the name of a library. Since the librarians were most often faculty members who had the assignment of looking after the books, university libraries were poorly funded and unevenly administered.

The history of libraries in America is essentially the story of public libraries. Public libraries grew in countless communities as a response to a growing democracy, but it was not until the nineteenth century that libraries became ubiquitous.

The public library that developed in the United States in the late nineteenth century was a prime example of the democratic institutions created to assimilate and integrate the diverse ethnic and cultural groups that had come to constitute America. By 1900 there were approximately two thousand public libraries in the United States. Most were either social libraries, supported by individual philanthropists with a special interest in the community, or subscription libraries, supported by fees paid by those patrons who wished to use the circulating collections.

It is no coincidence that the public library came onto the scene at the same time that large corporations came into existence. Mercantile libraries, especially in the East, were founded by and run for the benefit of businesspeople, and they became a source of great pride for many cities during the nineteenth century. Most library historians who have studied these institutions argue that the libraries served, primarily, an educational purpose. The self-improvement campaign that was evident in the middle class during much of the nineteenth century was exemplified by the belief that no knowledge should be foreign to the merchant, and therefore that the reading of books, newspapers, and magazines touching on any subject was professionally useful. These mercantile libraries also became the locus of informational lectures on a wide range of topics.

The Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, established in 1886, exemplified the type of library that was becoming common in many cities. Successful individual businessmen—such as Enoch Pratt, who called the library a symbol of democracy—established libraries in an effort to repay the community. The wealthy and well educated men who served on Pratt's board of trustees proclaimed that his new library was to be an institution "where neither wealth nor poverty, high nor low position in society nor any other distinction entitles the individual to special privileges before the law." Even if the rules were applied universally, the library was more a symbol of personal success than an open institution for information. The library in Baltimore was built as a closed-stacks institution, which could be used only with permission. Letters of reference had to be submitted to the head librarian.

The modern public library—the type that emphasizes access to information—emerged first in the guise of the Boston Public Library, established in 1852 as the first tax-supported municipal library. Even though it is popular among library historians to refer to the "public library movement," states and communities were reluctant to tax themselves to provide free library services. In 1849 New Hampshire was the first state to pass enabling legislation that allowed communities to levy taxes for public libraries. It took another fifty years for thirty-seven additional states to pass similar legislation.

Andrew Carnegie's philanthropy did more than anything else to accelerate the development of public libraries in towns across the country. In 1881 Carnegie made the first of a series of gifts that would link his name permanently to public library buildings. Motivations for Carnegie's philanthropy are sharply debated. Some argue that Carnegie's own experience as a self-made man led him to the recognition that access to books can lead to education, and, ultimately, wealth. Other historians have argued that Carnegie used library development as a form of social control, seeing in the library a way to instill standards of behavior and an appreciation of culture. Whatever the reason, between 1881 and 1919 Andrew Carnegie made grants for the construction of 1,679 public libraries in the United States.

His particular form of philanthropy had enormous influence: Carnegie gave money to municipal governments to build library buildings. The town or city had to promise to buy books and provide library staff. The latter requirement resulted in the growth of library education programs in universities and the creation of a professional organization—the American Library Association—that would campaign for universal library service in the United States. The topic most forcefully debated by the new organization was the nature of library collections. Many of the early professionals who worked in public libraries recognized that most readers had the greatest interest in books and magazines that entertained. Yet, the leaders of the profession argued that the role of the librarian was to encourage the reading of "good" books. The founders of the Boston Public Library, Edward Everett and George Ticknor, held opposing views on the type of collections the public library should contain. Ticknor believed that collecting and circulating the "pleasant literature of the day" would result in the cultivation of higher tastes in reading among the library patrons. Everett, who ultimately lost the battle, argued that the library should be a reference (noncirculating) library for scholarly purposes. The compromise reached at the Boston Public Library—a compromise between the "best books" and "the best that people will read"—was copied by libraries across the country throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

From the mid-nineteenth century until 1956, public libraries were guided by state legislation and professional principles. Reference services and children's services grew as more funding was applied to public libraries. In 1956 the federal government began to support the expansion of library services into rural communities. Federal funds were made available for professional training, construction of new library facilities, and research into library problems. By the 1970s, states began to think in terms of developing uniform library services that were administered by the main state library. Since then, technology-based networks have allowed states to offer more library services at less cost.

In the opening years of the twenty-first century, one aspect of the public library that is assuming more importance is its role as a place where members of a community can come together. Computer-based services are offered to all socioeconomic groups, but as home computers become more popular, the public library increasingly serves as a social safety net by ensuring access to information for those from lower economic levels, seeing this access as a right of all citizens. At the same time, many of the largest university libraries are deeply engaged in developing digital, or virtual, libraries, making resources for research and scholarship available through the Internet. To modern-day librarians, building collections of material that are available to anyone who has access to a computer is a natural extension of earlier services. It is uncertain how the availability of Web-based research materials will affect the concept of the library, but it does cause one to reflect on the extent to which the history of the library, until now, has been a history of buildings. As libraries move into a new era, there will be greater emphasis on information services available to scholars, researchers, and the general public.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Carpenter, Kenneth E. Readers and Libraries: Toward a History of Libraries and Culture in America. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1996.

Shera, Jesse H. Foundations of the Public Library: The Origins of the Public Library Movement in New England, 1629–1855. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949.

Van Slyck, Abigail. Free to All: Carnegie Libraries and American Culture, 1890–1920. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.

Deanna B.Marcum

See alsoHarvard University .

libraries. Before printing, collections of MS volumes were held in some monasteries and cathedrals, notably at Canterbury, Wearmouth, and Jarrow: the Benedictine rule prescribed reading as one of the duties of a monk. They were largely commentaries on the church fathers and philosophical and legal works and in the later Middle Ages were usually kept in the cloister. Though occasionally loaned to scholars, they could not be generally available. With the foundation of Oxford and Cambridge colleges from the 13th cent. onwards, more collections were started. Thomas Cobham, bishop of Worcester, built a small library at Oxford c.1320; Archbishop Chichele gave 49 books to his new college of All Souls in 1438, and Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, a great patron of learning, made handsome bequests to the university in the same period. The libraries were small and the books often kept in chests or chained to avoid the need for a librarian: chained libraries are extant at Merton College, Oxford, and in Hereford cathedral. In addition, a few noblemen or ecclesiastics had their own collections—Richard de Bury, bishop of Durham (d. 1345), and John Tiptoft, earl of Worcester (d. 1470).

The invention of printing in the 15th cent. allowed the development of modern libraries. A great many MS volumes and books were dispersed at the dissolution of the monasteries (c.1540) and, though Archbishop Parker, Sir Robert Cotton, and Sir Thomas Bodley recovered some, many perished. The Duke Humphrey library at Oxford was devoid of books and given over to other uses. But the number of scholarly libraries was increasing. Cambridge University library began in a modest fashion, the books kept in chests, but in the 1470s Archbishop Rotherham endowed a new library building in Old Schools. Edinburgh began collecting a library in the 1580s before the university was established. The Bodleian at Oxford, incorporating the Duke Humphrey, dates from about 1610, and the library of Trinity College, Dublin, is from the same period. The libraries of the Inns of Court date from the mid-16th cent. to the 17th cent. Over the next 200 years, some of the college libraries were rebuilt on a magnificent scale. Wren's library at Trinity College, Cambridge, by the banks of the Cam, was built between 1676 and 1695: Queen's at Oxford between 1692 and 1695. Hawksmoor's great Codrington library at All Souls was started in 1715 but not completed until 1751; the Radcliffe library by James Gibbs opened in 1749; Christ Church's library took even longer to finish than the Codrington, being begun in 1717 and completed in 1772. The first move towards a national library was the foundation of the British Museum in 1753, housing the Harleian, Cotton, and Sloane collections and augmented by gifts from George II and George III: Smirke's great classical building was opened in 1847. Playfair's library for the University of Edinburgh, another splendid piece of cool classicism, was finished in 1837. The Faculty of Advocates library in Edinburgh, dating from the 1680s, had acted as a Scottish national library and was entitled to the privilege of one copy of every book published, under the Copyright Act of 1709. It was not officially transformed into the National Library of Scotland until 1925, and opened its new building in 1956.

These were libraries for scholars and a high proportion of books were still in Latin. There was little provision for ordinary people unless their parish church had a small collection, though many homes had a few prized books. Grantham had a library as early as 1598 and Humphry Chetham left money in 1653 for libraries in Manchester and Bolton. In the course of the 18th cent. the situation began to change. The literacy rate started to rise. Circulating libraries were established in a number of towns, catering for the new novel reader—often a woman. By the end of the century, literary and philosophical societies and mechanics' institutes were being formed, most of which had libraries attached. Subscription libraries appeared in the 19th cent., the best known being perhaps the London library, founded by Thomas Carlyle in 1841, exasperated at the service in the British Museum. In 1849 a parliamentary select committee on library provision deplored the low standard, and a cautious Act of 1850 allowed towns of more than 10,000 people to spend a halfpenny rate (raised in 1855 to a penny) on library provisions (though not on books). Winchester, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, and Leeds had all established libraries by 1870. Municipal undertakings were assisted by donations in the late 19th cent. from Andrew Carnegie, Passmore Edwards, John Rylands, and others. In 1919 a further Act lifted the rate restriction and a county library service, to cope with the rural areas, was begun. The proliferation of universities and colleges from 1860 onwards saw dozens of new libraries established. By the late 20th cent. libraries were focal points in most towns, with particular emphasis on children's sections, and a diversification of activities into lectures, evening classes, and music and video provision.

J. A. Cannon

libraries: a listing of major university libraries and national collections in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, with some details of holdings:Aberdeen University Library. A 12th-cent. bestiary, Jacobite literature, extensive minor literature of the 18th and 19th cents.Ashley Library. Private library collected by Wise. First editions from Jonson onwards. Acquired by the British Museum in 1937.Bodleian Library, Oxford. Founded by Sir T. Bodley. In 1610 the Stationer's Company undertook to give the library a copy of every book printed in England. It received also important gifts of books and MSS from Laud, Cromwell, F. Junius, and Robert Burton. Other considerable accessions included Selden's library, in 1659, the Tanner, Rawlinson, Gough, Malone, and Douce collections of MSS, and many of the MSS of Locke in 1947. Copyright library.British Library. The national library for the United Kingdom, established in 1973 under Act of Parliament by the amalgamation of the library departments of the British Museum and other organizations, as the national centre for reference, lending, bibliographical, and other information services. It moved to St Pancras in 1998. Copyright library.Cambridge University Library. The Royal ( Bishop Moore's) Library, presented by King George I; the Bradshaw Collection of Irish Books; Taylor-Schechter collection of Hebraica; papers of C. Darwin. Incunables include a Gutenberg Bible and unique Caxton items. Copyright library.Durham University Library. Middle English MSS; letters of G. M. Hopkins, the Rossettis, E. Thomas; MSS of Plomer, and letters to him from Britten, E. M. Forster, etc. Printed books 16th–18th cent.Glasgow University Library. 1.3 million volumes, including 350 medieval MSS, 1,100 incunabula. Research collections include: emblem literature, Sir T. Browne's works, broadside ballads, Scottish theatre archives, 19th-cent. art and literature.National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh. Founded by Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh (1636–91) as library of the Faculty of Advocates, opened in 1689. Became the National Library of Scotland in 1925. Four million printed items, one million maps, and 34,000 MSS, mainly of Scottish interest. Also modern foreign literature. Copyright library.National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. Manuscripts, books, maps, prints, and drawings relating to Wales and the Celtic peoples. Copyright library.Queen's University of Belfast, The. University library. Hibernica Collection (Irish literature and history), Macdouall Collection (philology), Hamilton Harty Collection (music), and Thomas Percy Library.St Andrews University Library, Scotland. First four Shakespeare Folios on permanent loan from the Folger Library; Bibles; first editions of Galileo.Trinity College Library, University of Dublin. Largest research library in Ireland. Important collection of manuscripts, including Book of Kells.

American Library Association, United States v., 539 U. S. 194 (2003). Argued 5 March 2003, decided 23 June 2003 by vote of 6 to 3; Rehnquist for the Court, Kennedy and Breyer concurring, Stevens, Souter, and Ginsburg dissenting. Congress enacted the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) to prevent minors from using public libraries' Internet terminals to access obscene images. CIPA stipulated that public libraries could not receive federal assistance to provide Internet access unless they installed in their terminals software to block websites that purveyed such images.

Under the doctrine that Congress may not induce recipients of federal assistance to perform unconstitutional acts, Chief Justice William Rehnquist argued that public libraries' mission is to provide materials of the greatest benefit to the community; that Internet access in public libraries is not a protected public forum; that adult patrons can easily obtain access to an unblocked terminal by asking a librarian; and that the government is entitled to define the limits of the programs it establishes. From these premises, Rehnquist concluded that CIPA did not induce public libraries to perform unconstitutional acts.

Justice John Paul Stevens dissented on the ground that CIPA impermissibly conditioned receipt of government funding on the restriction of First Amendment rights because CIPA denied the libraries any discretion in judging the merits of the blocked websites.

Justice David Souter, with Ginsburg joining, dissented on the ground that blocking an adult's access to material harmful to minors is constitutionally impermissible content‐based restriction on the communication of material in the library's control. He argued that strict scrutiny ought to have been applied, and that CIPA would fail this test because it was not narrowly enough tailored to achieve the government's compelling interest in protecting minors from accessing obscene images without infringing the fundamental rights of adult library patrons. In Justice Souter's view, CIPA's terms did not ensure that an adult library patron could obtain an unblocked terminal by simply asking.

T. J. Donahue

American Library Association founded 1876, organization whose purpose is to increase the usefulness of books through the improvement and extension of library services. As the major professional association for librarians and libraries, it seeks to maintain high standards for all branches of library service through functions ranging from the accreditation of library training schools to the recognition of outstanding books. The association was involved in early attempts to expand library services to all people. It supported public access to library shelves, tax-supported libraries, books made available for home loan, and research libraries sponsored by the government and major educational institutions. It fosters joint programs with the Association for Educational Communications and Technology. It has a long-standing policy of opposition to censorship, the banning of books, and violations of the user's right to confidentiality in the selection of reading materials. The organization, based in Chicago, had 58,777 members in 1999.