Collections of clay tablets were discovered in ancient Mesopotamia that date back about three thousand years. Were these the first library ?
Libraries appeared over two thousand years ago, before there were printed books ! One of the famous libraries was that at Alexandria, in Egypt, which also appears to have served as a university with some 5,000 students. The layout also suggests more than a repository of material (presumably papyrus scrolls in those times), with halls where students could meet and podiums where they might be addressed. The library as a learning center is far from a new idea. As these early libraries developed they would have contained works by Plato, Socrates, Ptolemy and others.
The growth of libraries in Europe came slowly through the spread of Christianity and the collections kept by monasteries. Books were copied by monks in the scriptorium, but monks did far more since they taught many to read and write. Books would be of limited use without such skills !
Gerbert of Aurillac taught logic, but also introduced students to the works of Horace, Virgil and Perseus. The discovery of Hildbert’s teaching notes show extracts from Cicero, Terence and Seneca. Libraries and teaching have always shared an area.
Books were considered extremely valuable, many being kept on chains in large libraries. Then came a breakthrough when the scrolls were replaced by books prepared using Gutenberg’s movable type. The Golden Age for the library is said to have been around the 17th and 18th centuries, although the national library in Paris known as Bibliotheque Nationale de France began in 1367.
In Britain the Bodlean library at Oxford developed, the London Guild Hall founded one of the first public libraries, the Ambrosian library sprang up in Milan and the National Library of Spain (in Madrid) was founded in 1711.
When 400 books were donated to an institution in the United States, the university named itself after the donor, John Harvard. Subscription libraries, where a small fee was paid for a loan, were replaced by free public libraries.
Then things began to change. By the end of the 19th century other media were being used, notably the ‘gramophone record’, then music was recorded on tape, then on CD’s. Films were making the leap from reels to VHS tapes, then to DVD’s.
Librarians became experts in tracking down and recommending a wide variety of material.
Duplicating technology added a new sideline to library with photocopying of resources and photograph machines appeared for passport photographs.
Microfiche was introduced to make materials available, and to archive materials. Microfiche is still a more stable media form than a CD for storage and is still used to archive government documents.
Along came the computer and then the internet. Information started to become available in huge chunks. Who was to advise on the validity of the information, whether it could be used, how it could be used, the best way to search for it ? That continued to be the a role played by the librarian.
So where does the future of the library lie ? How can we try and visualize how space will be used in 2, 5 or 10 years time ? As technology continues an information explosion, such that it now seems like searching in a universe for a single star, how are we to react ?
Look at these common features throughout the ages. Libraries, teaching and learning have always been together, libraries have always been places where materials were stored, developed and often copied, libraries have always been places promoting access to information.
These are the keys to the future. Just as the monk would be expected to teach, would know where the materials were and would prepare materials for the teaching, so we as the inheritors of this great tradition must acquire the skills to do the same.
I would not foresee a return to the monk who practiced all the skills, but there has to be an element of cross-training. We do need to know the basic skills to an extent that we can offer help, direct a student towards help and play our part in the development of new material and the archiving of old materials.
We need to rethink and get away from the idea that to maintain a library is some sort of overhead that an institution carries. We have to return to the idea where it is a place where the transfer and processing of information takes place, an essential to learning and vital to the progress of every student. This is where the use of space becomes central to our thinking. Learning is far more than sitting in front of an open book, or a computer screen. Our spatial awareness needs to rethink how the library at Alexandria used space, with space for presentation, how the monasteries used space for teaching, and how those who spent their working lives there were producers of information.
Development of ideas has produced the new interactive approach for children. As this generation grows and reaches our doors we ask ‘Are we prepared ?’. I think not ! How many of our displays are interactive ? How many activities do we have that encourage interactive learning ? We have the resources already to make major steps forward, but we need to make the space work. Stanford’s archiving of volumes shows how we could create space, the childrens’ interactive library shows ways in which we can use space. We have the ability, we need to recognize the importance of collaboration.
I think that Bas Savenije , head librarian of Utrecht University Library has a point when he says “in my opinion libraries should try and become publishers of electronic documents instead of merely relying on agreements with commercial publishers.” We have to rethink , at a fundamental level, how information is produced, not jump to the conclusion that it is only about distribution. However, the students of tomorrow will demand far more than electronic documents. Are we ready ?
If the stores of information go, what will happen ? The information still has to be accessible in some way. If we let development of resources go by the wayside we do ourselves a disservice, and if we forget that libraries were once the seats of teaching and learning then we have forgotten why they came into being.
I feel the way forward is to recognize and embrace the old concept of a library and to use technology to enhance an experience of being in a library without trying to replace what a library is about.
References:
Bas Savenije librarian Universiteitsbibliotheek Utrecht, postbus 16007, 3500 DA Utrecht, Wittevrouwenstraat 7-11, telefoon (030) 253 65 00 The future of the library : The crucial importance of accessibility
The future library http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMus6tZifGY (How Stanford put 8 million volumes online for students)
The childrens’ interactrive library http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu7XciJi6xY&feature=related iland is a must to watch !
More on the Children’s Interactive Library http://www.krosweb.dk/index.php?The+Interactive+Children%5C's+Library
The Gutenberg Project http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Archiving for everyone.
