History and Function of Libraries

History and Function

of Libraries

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—President Franklin D.

Roosevelt

"I have an unshaken conviction that

democracy can never be undermined if we

maintain our library resources and a national

intelligence capable of utilizing them."

Purpose of the Lesson

You will understand how libraries
came to be, both in the U.S, and in
the world.

History of Libraries as
an institution

Three of the oldest and grandest.

Oldest and grandest in

the U.S.

Open Ended

What is the purpose of this lesson?

Libraries

01

When and where did they start?

Timeline

01

02

Syria (Iraq)

7th century BCE

3k cuneiform tablets

organized by topic

1st Organized

Library

Ancient Egypt

May have held as

many 700k
documents

Library of
Alexandria

source: Encyclopedia Britannica

Multiple Choice

What tragedy happened to the Library of Alexandria?

(Google It)

• The Library of Alexandria was a museum, not a library.
• The Library of Alexandria was relocated to Rome.
• The Library of Alexandria was never built.
• The Library of Alexandria was destroyed in a series of events, leading to the loss of countless texts and knowledge.

Timeline

03

04

Libraries established

in Spain, 10th c.
Rome and Athens

Ancient Mayans and

Aztecs

Europe and the

Americas

Benjamin Franklin

had a lending library
Library of Congress

1800

Boston, MA Public
Library 1854

First American

Libraries

source: Encyclopedia Britannica

Multiple Choice

Which American City had the first public library?

• Boston, Massachusetts
• New York City, New York
• Chicago, Illinois
• Peterborough, New Hampshire

Six Most Important Functions of Libraries

Preservation of
the knowledge

Collection of

recorded
knowledge

Organizing the

knowledge

01

​02

1-3

Six Most Important Functions of Libraries

Transferring the

knowledge through

education

Helping patrons

find the knowledge

Creating new knowledge

through community

development

04

05

06

​4-6

Libraries In

the U.S.

02

I. Library of
Congress

●De facto National Library

●Houses all important historical
documents of the nation

●Largest library in the world.

●Established in April 1800

●Serves members of congress

​Need to listen

II. New York
Public Library

●Opened in 1911 on 5th Avenue and 42nd
Street.

●At the time it was the largest marble
building in the world

●In the 1930s during World War I, its
famous marble lions were nicknamed
Patience and Fortitude

●It holds many interesting artifacts such
as locks of hair from Charlotte Bronte
and Walt Whitman

●When Pearl Harbor was attacked, its
most important documents were moved
to bank vaults around the city

Continued

●Opened in 1963 at Yale University

●Yale's first library was built in 1743

●Holds nearly 1 million books

Beinecke Rare Book and
Manuscript Library
III

●The rarest books
are in a six story
glass tower with
special features to
protect them

Multiple Choice

Which of the previous libraries has a special climate controlled library in the middle of it to stop any fires by starving them of Oxygen

• Library of Congress

• Beinecke Rare Book Library

• New York Public Library

Multiple Choice

Which of the previous libraries is the largest library in the world and serves members of congress

• Library of Congress

• Beinecke Rare Book Library

• New York Public Library

Multiple Choice

Which of the previous libraries has famous marble lions?

• Library of Congress

• Beinecke Rare Book Library

• New York Public Library

Up Next

Create a Vision and Mission for a library of the future.

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