Page 108 - DLIS101_LIBRARY_AND_INFORMATION_SOCIETY

Unit 9: Development of Libraries in India, U.K and U.S.A

of today, many of the novels in circulating libraries were unbound. At this period of time, many Notes
people chose to bind their books in leather. Many circulating libraries skipped this process.
Circulating libraries were not in the business of preserving books; their owners wanted to lend
books as many times as they possibly could. Circulating libraries had ushered in a completely new
way of reading. Reading was no longer simply an academic pursuit or an attempt to gain spiritual
guidance. Reading became a social activity. Many circulating libraries were attached to the shops of
milliners or drapers. They served as much for social gossip and the meeting of friends as coffee
shops does today.
Another factor in the growth of subscription libraries was the increasing cost of books. In the last
two decades of the century, especially, prices were practically doubled, so that a quarto work cost a
guinea, an octavo 10 shillings or 12 shillings, and a duodecimo cost 4 shillings per volume. Price
apart, moreover, books were difficult to procure outside London, since local booksellers could not
afford to carry large stocks. Commercial libraries, since they were usually associated with booksellers,
and also since they had a greater number of patrons, were able to accumulate greater numbers of
books. The United Public Library was said to have a collection of some 52,000 volumes—twice as
many as any private subscription library in the country at that period. These libraries, since they
functioned as a business, also lent books to non-subscribers on a per-book system.

Self Assessment

Multiple Choice Questions:
3. Library of St. Walifram’s Grantham, Lincolnshire was founded in the year:
(a) 1598 (b) 1599
(c) 2000 (d) 1596
4. Norwich city library was established in the year:
(a) 1608 (b) 1598
(c) 1607 (d) 1464
5. Chetham’s library in Manchester was opened in the year ...... .
(a) 1653 (b) 1608
(c) 1598 (d) 1405.

9.3 Library Development in United States

As the United States developed from the 18th century to today, growing more populous and
wealthier, factors such as a push for education and desire to share knowledge led to broad public
support for free libraries. In addition, money donations by private philanthropists provided the
seed capital to get many libraries started. In some instances, collectors donated vast book collections.
William James Sidis in The Tribes and the States claimed the public library, as such, was an American
invention. But exactly what constitutes a “free public library” is subject to dispute, and the term
“invention” doesn’t seem applicable to the many facets of an institution such as a library. Throughout
history, knowledge in different forms has been shared in different ways. Writing was recorded on
papyrus and stored in scrolls and kept in vast libraries such as the Library of Alexandria in Egypt.
In ancient Greece, knowledge was passed by one person reading aloud to a group of scribes from a
text; this resulted in sometimes different and error-prone versions of the same text. Monks in the
Middle Agescopied manuscripts by hand. After the invention of the printing press by Johann
Gutenberg, books became prevalent, and different institutions such as universities and governments
and churches found ways to keep and share them.

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