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111-600: Hennepin County Library is a public library system serving Hennepin County, Minnesota , US. The current iteration of Hennepin County Library was formed by the merger of urban Minneapolis Public Library and suburban Hennepin County Library on January 1, 2008. The system has 41 library locations , deposit collections at nursing homes and correctional facilities, mail service to the homebound, and extensive outreach services. With more than 4 million items in its collection,

222-582: A board to serve the public interest; (3) they are open to all, and every community member can access the collection; (4) they are entirely voluntary, no one is ever forced to use the services provided; and (5) they provide library and information services without charge. Public libraries exist in many countries across the world and are often considered an essential part of having an educated and literate population. Public libraries are distinct from research libraries , school libraries , academic libraries in other states and other special libraries . Their mandate

333-466: A clientele of some fifty thousand." The mid-to-late 18th century saw a virtual epidemic of feminine reading as novels became more and more popular. Novels, while frowned upon in society, were extremely popular. In England, there were many who lamented at the "villainous profane and obscene books", and the opposition to the circulating library, on moral grounds, persisted well into the 19th century. Still, many establishments must have circulated many times

444-605: A common pattern. Membership was restricted to the proprietors or shareholders, and ranged from a dozen or two to between four and five hundred. The entrance fee, i.e. the purchase price of a share, was in early days usually a guinea, but rose sharply as the century advanced, often reaching four or five guineas during the French wars; the annual subscription, during the same period, rose from about six shillings to ten shillings or more. The book-stock was, by modern standards, small (Liverpool, with over 8,000 volumes in 1801, seems to have been

555-428: 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 do today. Another factor in the growth of subscription libraries was the increasing cost of books. In

666-674: A consortium of eight Twin Cities library systems. Minneapolis Public Library was founded in 1885 with the establishment of the Minneapolis Public Library Board by an amendment of the Minneapolis city charter. Minneapolis Public Library's first building was the Main Library, opened in 1889. Minneapolis Public Library later added community library branches to supplement the main library. The first branch

777-462: 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. Despite the existence of these subscription libraries, they were only accessible to those who could afford

888-410: A later development, which were made possible by the establishment of County Councils in 1888. They normally have a large central library in a major town with smaller branch libraries in other towns and a mobile library service covering rural areas. A new Public Libraries Act was passed in 1964. Local authorities were to provide a "comprehensive and efficient" library service. Public libraries built in

999-729: A particular social context (even if that context is "school"), and, after print acquisition, every instance of reading or writing will be for a specific purpose and occasion with particular readers and writers in mind. Reading and writing, therefore, are never separable from social and cultural elements. A corollary point made by David Barton and Rosalind Ivanić , among others, is that the cognitive and societal effects of acquiring literacy are not easily predictable, since, as Brian Street has argued, "the ways in which people address reading and writing are themselves rooted in conceptions of knowledge, identity, and being." Consequently, as Jack Goody has documented, historically, literacy has included

1110-453: A place for other forms of commercial activity, which may or may not be related to print. This was necessary because the circulating libraries did not generate enough funds through subscription fees collected from its borrowers. As a commerce venture, it was important to consider the contributing factors such as other goods or services available to the subscribers. The Malatestiana Library ( Italian : Biblioteca Malatestiana ), also known as

1221-481: A population of 10,000 or more to raise a ½d for the establishment of museums". This became the Museums Act 1845 . The advocacy of Ewart and Brotherton then succeeded in having a select committee set up to consider public library provision. The Report argued that the provision of public libraries would steer people towards temperate and moderate habits. With a view to maximising the potential of current facilities,

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1332-407: A precursor to early cuneiform writing once people began recording information on clay tablets. Proto-Cuneiform texts exhibit not only numerical signs but also ideograms depicting objects being counted. Though the traditional view had been that cuneiform literacy was restricted to a class of scribes, assyriologists including Claus Wilcke and Dominique Charpin have argued that functional literacy

1443-632: A resurgence as a result, and by the 15th century, paper was widespread. The Reformation stressed the importance of literacy and being able to read the Bible. The Protestant countries were the first to attain full literacy. In a more secular context, inspired by the Enlightenment , Sweden implemented programs in 1723 aimed at making the population fully literate. Other countries implemented similar measures at this time. These included Denmark in 1739, Poland in 1783, and France in 1794/5. Literacy

1554-418: A simple majority. It also allowed neighbouring parishes to combine with an existing or potential library authority. Despite the rise in the level of tax public libraries could levy, it was still very difficult for boroughs to raise enough capital to fund new libraries. The growth of the public library movement in the wake of the 1850 Act relied heavily on the donations of philanthropists. County libraries were

1665-585: A supporter of the temperance movement , was able to secure the Chair of the select committee which would examine "the extent, causes, and consequences of the prevailing vice of intoxication among the labouring classes of the United Kingdom" and propose solutions. Francis Place , a campaigner for the working class, agreed that "the establishment of parish libraries and district reading rooms, and popular lectures on subjects both entertaining and instructive to

1776-465: A variety of materials including the increasingly popular novels . Although the circulating libraries filled an important role in society, members of the middle and upper classes often looked down upon these libraries that regularly sold material from their collections and provided materials that were less sophisticated. Circulating libraries also charged a subscription fee . However, these fees were set to entice their patrons, providing subscriptions on

1887-591: A yearly, quarterly or monthly basis, without expecting the subscribers to purchase a share in the circulating library. This helped patrons who could not afford to buy books, to be able to borrow books to read, and then return. This also created a more popular demand, as book fees were growing, and more books were being copied. Circulating libraries were very popular; the first one was located in 1725, in Edinburgh, Scotland , by Allan Ramsay . Circulating libraries were not exclusively lending institutions and often provided

1998-453: Is also gaining momentum. The traditional concept of literacy widened as a consensus emerged among researchers in composition studies , education research , and anthropological linguistics that it makes little sense to speak of reading or writing outside of a specific context, with linguist James Paul Gee describing it as "simply incoherent." For example, even the extremely early stages of acquiring mastery over symbol shapes take place in

2109-489: Is concentrated among younger people," along with increased rates among rural populations and women. This evidence indicates that illiteracy is a complex phenomenon with multiple factors impacting rates of illiteracy and the type of illiteracy one may experience. Literacy has rapidly spread in several regions in the last twenty-five years, and the United Nations's global initiative with Sustainable Development Goal 4

2220-597: Is more consistent with an early form of Canaanite that was used c.  1100 BCE . While the earliest Greek inscriptions are dated circa 8th century BCE, epigraphical comparisons to Proto-Canaanite suggest that the Greeks may have adopted the consonantal alphabet as early as 1100 BCE and later "added in five characters to represent vowels". Phoenician, which is considered to contain the first linear alphabet, rapidly spread to Mediterranean port cities in northern Canaan. Some archeologists believe that Phoenician influenced

2331-435: Is part of spatial, audio, and visual patterns (Rhodes & Robnolt, 2009)". Objections have been raised that this concept downplays the importance of reading instruction that focuses on "alphabetic representations". However, these are not mutually exclusive , as children can become proficient in word-reading while engaging with multiliteracies. Word reading is fundamental for multiple forms of communication. Beginning in

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2442-419: Is to serve the general public's information needs rather than the needs of a particular school, institution, or research population. Public libraries also provide free services such as preschool story times to encourage early literacy among children. They also provide a quiet study and learning areas for students and professionals and foster the formation of book clubs to encourage the appreciation of literature by

2553-522: The Harappa culture. Existing evidence suggests that most early acts of literacy were, in some areas (such as Egypt), closely tied to power and chiefly used for management practices, and probably less than 1% of the population was literate, as it was confined to a very small group. Scholarship by others, such as Dominique Charpin and a project from the European Union , however, suggest that this

2664-441: The ancient Semitic-speaking peoples of northern Canaan invented the consonantal alphabet as early as 1500 BCE. Much of this theory's development is credited to English archeologist Flinders Petrie , who, in 1905, came across a series of Canaanite inscriptions in the turquoise mines of Serabit el-Khadem . Ten years later, English Egyptologist Alan Gardiner reasoned that these letters contain an alphabet as well as references to

2775-766: The earliest form of writing – the clay tablets in cuneiform script discovered in temple rooms in Sumer , some dating back to 2600 BC. They appeared five thousand years ago in Southwest Asia's Fertile Crescent , an area that ran from Mesopotamia to the Nile in Africa. Known as the cradle of civilization, the Fertile Crescent was likewise the birthplace of writing, sometime before 3000 BC. (Murray, Stuart A.P.) These first libraries, which mainly consisted of

2886-704: The 1830s, at the height of the Chartist movement, there was a general tendency towards reformism in the United Kingdom. The middle classes were concerned that the workers' free time was not being well-spent. This was prompted more by Victorian middle class paternalism than by demand from the lower social orders. Campaigners felt that encouraging the lower classes to spend their free time on morally uplifting activities, such as reading, would promote greater social good. Salford Museum and Art Gallery first opened in November 1850 as "The Royal Museum & Public Library", as

2997-405: The 18th century to today; as the country grew 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 large book collections. The first modern public library in

3108-460: The 1940s, the term literacy has often been used to mean having knowledge or skill in a particular field, such as: Functional illiteracy relates to adults and has been defined in different ways: Functional illiteracy is distinguished from primary illiteracy (i.e., the inability to read and write a short, simple statement concerning one's own everyday life) and learning difficulties (e.g., dyslexia ). These categories have been contested—as has

3219-559: The 1960s were characterized by modernism. The modern public library grew at a great pace at the end of the 19th century especially in the English-speaking world . Philanthropists and businessmen, including John Passmore Edwards , Henry Tate and Andrew Carnegie , helped to fund the establishment of large numbers of public libraries for the edification of the masses. Public libraries in North America developed from

3330-579: The 1990s suggests that this shift in understanding from "discrete skill" to "social practice" is both ongoing and uneven. Some definitions remain fairly closely aligned with the traditional "ability to read and write" connotation, whereas others take a broader view: The concept of multiliteracies has gained currency, particularly in English Language Arts curricula, on the grounds that reading "is interactive and informative, and occurs in ever-increasingly technological settings where information

3441-578: The 4th and 5th centuries, the Church made efforts to ensure a better clergy, especially the bishops, who were expected to have a classical education—the hallmark of a socially acceptable person in higher society. Even after the remnants of the Western Roman Empire fell in the 470s, literacy continued to be a distinguishing mark of the elite, as communication skills were still important in political and church life (bishops were largely drawn from

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3552-468: The Apostles' epistles or some other part of Scripture. And if he is illiterate he shall go at the first, third and sixth hours to someone who can teach and has been appointed for him. He shall stand before him and learn very studiously and with all gratitude. The fundamentals of a syllable, the verbs and nouns shall all be written for him and even if he does not want to he shall be compelled to read. During

3663-467: The Canaanite goddess Asherah . In 1948, William F. Albright deciphered the text using new evidence, including a series of inscriptions from Ugarit . Discovered in 1929 by French archaeologist Claude F. A. Schaeffer , some of these inscriptions were mythological texts (written in an early Canaanite dialect) that consisted of a 30-letter cuneiform consonantal alphabet. Another significant discovery

3774-471: The Church of England or other gentlemen or persons of letters", but it was limited to just 422 volumes of mostly ecclesiastical and legal works. In Germany, there was another occurrence of an accessible public library. The Ducal Library at Wolfenbüttel was open "every weekday morning and afternoon" and loaned its books to the public. Between 1714 and 1799, the library loaned 31,485 books to 1,648 different users. These types of public libraries, much closer to

3885-665: The Eastern Mediterranean (see Library of Alexandria § In antiquity ). Historian Yahya of Antioch (d. 1066) reported that the Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ( r.  996–1021 ) financed and established libraries open to the public, where anyone, even the simple non-specialists, could choose whatever books they wanted and have them copied by public scribes, free of charge. However, as with many of his other decisions, Al-Hakim later ordered this policy to be reversed. In Cesena, Italy,

3996-486: The French philologist and churchman, operated an early form of a public library in the town of Saulieu from 1737 to 1750. He wished to make culture and learning accessible to all people. The Załuski Library ( Polish : Biblioteka Załuskich , Latin : Bibliotheca Zalusciana ) was built in Warsaw 1747–1795 by Józef Andrzej Załuski and his brother, Andrzej Stanisław Załuski , both Roman Catholic bishops. The library

4107-604: The Hebrew and Aramaic alphabets, as these languages evolved during the same time period, share similar features, and are commonly categorized into the same language group. When the Israelites migrated to Canaan between 1200 and 1000 BCE, they adopted a variation of the Canaanite alphabet. Baruch ben Neriah , Jeremiah's scribe, used this alphabet to create the later scripts of the Old Testament . The early Hebrew alphabet

4218-854: The Hennepin County Library system is one of the largest public libraries in the United States. The library is a department of Hennepin County Government. The library headquarters are in the Ridgedale Library in suburban Minnetonka . The library system has an eleven-member advisory Library Board appointed by the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners. It is a member of the Metropolitan Library Service Agency ,

4329-763: The Kingdom of Nabataea, then to the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas, eventually making its way to Africa; and east, where it later influenced the development of the Brahmi script in India. Over the next few centuries, Imperial Aramaic script in Persia evolved into Pahlavi , "as well as for a range of alphabets used by early Turkish and Mongol tribes in Siberia , Mongolia and Turkestan ". During this period, literacy spread among

4440-731: The Late Bronze Age , successor alphabets appeared throughout the Mediterranean region and were used in Phoenician , Hebrew , and Aramaic . According to Goody, these cuneiform scripts may have influenced the development of the Greek alphabet several centuries later. Historically, the Greeks contended that their writing system was modeled after the Phoenicians. However, many Semitic scholars now believe that Ancient Greek

4551-676: The Malatesta Novello Library, is a public library dating from 1452 in Cesena , Emilia-Romagna ( Italy ). It was the first European civic library , i.e. belonging to the Commune and open to everybody. It was commissioned by the Lord of Cesena, Malatesta Novello . The works were directed by Matteo Nuti of Fano (a scholar of Leon Battista Alberti ) and lasted from 1447 to 1452. The first libraries consisted of archives of

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4662-787: The Pacific , as well as Latin America and the Caribbean , have adult literacy rates over 90%. In other regions, illiteracy persists at higher rates; as of 2013, the adult literacy rate in South Asia and North Africa was 67.55% and 59.76% in Sub-Saharan Africa . In much of the world, high youth literacy rates suggest that illiteracy will become less common as more educated younger generations replace less educated older ones. However, in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where

4773-555: The Southern Hemisphere (3 vols) which was borrowed on 201 occasions. The records also show that in 1796, membership had risen by 1/3 to 198 subscribers (of whom 5 were women) and the titles increased five-fold to 4,987. This mirrors the increase in reading interests. A patron list from the Bath Municipal Library shows that from 1793 to 1799, the library held a stable 30% of their patrons as female. It

4884-468: The actions and judgments of government officials. Indus script is largely pictorial and has not yet been deciphered; as such, it is unknown whether it includes abstract signs. It is thought that they wrote from right to left and that the script is logographic . Because it has not been deciphered, linguists disagree on whether it is a complete and independent writing system; however, it is generally thought to be an independent writing system that emerged in

4995-429: The ancient Sumerians invented writing . During this era, literacy was "a largely functional matter, propelled by the need to manage the new quantities of information and the new type of governance created by trade and large scale production". Early writing systems first emerged as a recording system in which people used tokens with impressed markings to manage trade and agricultural production. The token system served as

5106-399: The base of many academic and public library collections of today. The establishment of circulating libraries in the 18th century by booksellers and publishers provided a means of gaining profit and creating social centers within the community. The circulating libraries not only provided a place to sell books, but also a place to lend books for a price. These circulating libraries provided

5217-648: The benefits of literacy, some recent literature in economics, starting with the work of Kaushik Basu and James Foster, distinguishes between a "proximate illiterate" and an "isolated illiterate". A "proximate illiterate" lives in a household with literate members, while an "isolated illiterate" lives in a household where everyone is illiterate. Isolated illiteracy is more common among older populations in wealthier nations, where people are less likely to live in multigenerational households with potentially literate relatives. A 2018/2019 UNESCO report noted that "conversely, in low and lower middle income countries, isolated illiteracy

5328-508: The book and the register" and that "no one, either free or slave, could afford to be illiterate". Similarly, Dupont points out, "The written word was all around them, in both public and private life: laws, calendars, regulations at shrines, and funeral epitaphs were engraved in stone or bronze. The Republic amassed huge archives of reports on every aspect of public life." The imperial civilian administration produced masses of documentation used in judicial, fiscal, and administrative matters, as did

5439-645: The clergy and residents of the surrounding neighborhood. Some scholars consider this library an "ancestor" to public libraries since its patrons did not need to belong to an existing organization like a church or college to use it. However, all the books in the library were chained to stalls and unavailable to borrow, hence its name: the Francis Trigge Chained Library. In the early years of the 17th century, many famous collegiate and town libraries were founded in England. Norwich City library

5550-518: The committee made two significant recommendations. They suggested that the government should issue grants to aid the foundation of libraries and that the Museums Act 1845 should be amended and extended to allow for a tax to be levied for the establishment of public libraries. Objections were raised about the increase in taxation , the potential infringement on private enterprise and the existing library provision such as mechanics' institutes and

5661-717: The common people, both in town and country, are equally intense in their admiration. Frequently, have we seen the butcher-boy, with his tray on his shoulder, reading with the greatest avidity the last "Pickwick"; the footman (whose fopperies are so inimitably laid bare), the maidservant, the chimney sweep, all classes, in fact, read "Boz". From the mid-19th century onward, the Second Industrial Revolution saw technological improvements in paper production. The new distribution networks, enabled by improved roads and rail, resulted in an increased capacity to supply printed material. Social and educational changes increased

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5772-435: The community might draw off a number of those who now frequent public houses for the sole enjoyment they afford". Buckingham introduced to Parliament a Public Institution Bill allowing boroughs to charge a tax to set up libraries and museums, the first of its kind. Although this did not become law, it had a major influence on William Ewart MP and Joseph Brotherton MP, who introduced a bill which would "[empower] boroughs with

5883-466: The competition of the world. In the late 19th century, gas and electric lighting were becoming more common in private homes, replacing candlelight and oil lamps, enabling reading after dark and increasing the appeal of literacy. Data published by UNESCO shows that the worldwide literacy rate among adults has increased, on average, by 5 percentage points every decade since 1950, from 55.7% in 1950 to 86.2% in 2015. Due to rapid population growth , while

5994-565: The concept of "illiteracy" itself—for being predicated on narrow assumptions, primarily derived from school-based contexts, about what counts as reading and writing (e.g., comprehending and following instructions). Script is thought to have developed independently at least five times in human history: in Mesopotamia , Egypt , the Indus civilization , lowland Mesoamerica , and China . Between 3500 BCE and 3000 BCE, in southern Mesopotamia,

6105-532: The demand for reading matter, as rising literacy rates, particularly among the middle and working classes, created a new mass market for printed material. Wider schooling helped increase literacy rates, which in turn helped lower the cost of publication. Unskilled labor forces were common in Western Europe, and, as British industry improved, more engineers and skilled workers who could handle technical instructions and complex situations were needed. Literacy

6216-639: The elite. These oracle-bone inscriptions were the early ancestors of modern Chinese script and contained logosyllabic script and numerals. By the time of the consolidation of the Chinese Empire during the Qin and Han dynasties ( c.  200 BCE ), written documents were central to the formation and policing of a hierarchical bureaucratic governance structure reinforced through law. Within this legal order, written records kept track of and controlled citizen movements, created records of misdeeds, and documented

6327-558: The end of the 18th century and in the first decades of the 19th century, the demand for books and general education made itself felt among social classes generated by the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. The late-18th century saw a rise in subscription libraries intended for the use of tradesmen. In 1797, there was established at Kendal what was known as the Economical Library, "designed principally for

6438-526: The expansion to a back room, to the spacious elegant areas of Hookham's or those at the resorts like Scarborough, and four in a row at Margate. Private-subscription libraries held a greater amount of control over both membership and the types of books in the library. There was almost a complete elimination of cheap fiction in the private societies. Subscription libraries prided themselves on respectability. The highest percentage of subscribers were often landed proprietors, gentry, and old professions. Towards

6549-546: The fear that it would give rise to "unhealthy social agitation". The Bill passed through Parliament as most MPs felt that public libraries would provide facilities for self-improvement through books and reading for all classes, and that the greater levels of education attained by providing public libraries would result in lower crime rates . Under the terms of the Museums Act of 1845 , the municipalities of Warrington and Salford established libraries in their museums. Warrington Municipal Library opened in 1848. Although by

6660-510: The fees and to those with time to read during the daylight. As stated by James Van Horn Melton, "one should not overstate the extent to which lending libraries 'democratized' reading" since "they were probably less important for creating new readers than for enabling those who already read to read more." For many people, these libraries, though more accessible than libraries such as the British Library, were still largely an institution for

6771-467: The first alphabetic system ( c.  750 BCE ) that used distinctive signs for consonants and vowels. Goody contests: The importance of Greek culture of the subsequent history of Western Europe has led to an over-emphasis, by classicists and others, on the addition of specific vowel signs to the set of consonantal ones that had been developed earlier in Western Asia. Many scholars argue that

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6882-636: The first community-run public library, the Malatestiana Library , was established in 1447, provided both secular and religious texts in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and was fully open to all members of the public. Another early library that allowed access to the public was Kalendars or Kalendaries, a brotherhood of clergy and laity who were attached to the Church of All-Halloween or All Saints in Bristol , England. Records show that in 1464, provision

6993-579: The first unconditionally free public library in England. The library in Campfield , Manchester was the first library to operate a "free" lending library without subscription in 1852. Norwich lays claim to being the first municipality to adopt the Public Libraries Act 1850 (which allowed any municipal borough with a population of 100,000 or more to introduce a halfpenny rate to establish public libraries—although not to buy books). Norwich

7104-631: The form of novels. The national average start of the 20th century hovered around novels comprising about 20% of the total collection. Novels varied from other types of books in many ways. They were read primarily for enjoyment instead of for study. They did not provide academic knowledge or spiritual guidance; thus, they were read quickly and far fewer times than other books. These were the perfect books for commercial subscription libraries to lend. Since books were read for pure enjoyment rather than for scholarly work, books needed to become both cheaper and smaller. Small duodecimo editions of books were preferred to

7215-506: The lack of a suitable writing medium, as when the Western Roman Empire collapsed, the import of papyrus to Europe ceased. Since papyrus perishes easily and does not last well in the wetter European climate, parchment was used, which was expensive and accessible only by the church and the wealthy. Paper was introduced into Europe via Spain in the 11th century and spread north slowly over the next four centuries. Literacy saw

7326-403: The large folio editions. Folio editions were read at a desk, while the small duodecimo editions could be easily read like the paperbacks of today. The French journalist Louis-Sébastien Mercier wrote that the books were also separated into parts so that readers could rent a section of the book for some hours instead of a full day. This allowed more readers could have access to the same work at

7437-497: The largest), and was accommodated, at the outset, in makeshift premises—very often over a bookshop, with the bookseller acting as librarian and receiving an honorarium for his pains. The Liverpool subscription library was a gentlemen-only library. In 1798, it was renamed the Athenaeum when it was rebuilt with a newsroom and coffeehouse. It had an entrance fee of one guinea and annual subscription of five shillings. An analysis of

7548-442: 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

7659-420: The merchant classes, and 15-20% of the total population may have been literate. The Aramaic language declined with the spread of Islam , which was accompanied by the spread of Arabic . Until recently, it was thought that the majority of people were illiterate in the classical world, though recent work challenges this perception. Anthony DiRenzo asserts that Roman society was "a civilization based on

7770-499: The merger was finalized on January 1, 2008, under the name of Hennepin County Library. The Hennepin County Free Library started operating a bookmobile (then called a book wagon) in 1922. Public library There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries: (1) they are generally supported by taxes (usually local, though any level of government can and may contribute); (2) they are governed by

7881-555: The mid-19th century, England could claim 274 subscription libraries and Scotland, 266, the foundation of the modern public library system in Britain is the Public Libraries Act 1850 . The Act first gave local boroughs the power to establish free public libraries and was the first legislative step toward the creation of an enduring national institution that provides universal free access to information and literature. In

7992-539: The mid-19th century, there were virtually no public libraries in the sense in which we now understand the term, i.e., libraries provided with public funds and freely accessible to all. Only one important library in Britain, namely Chetham's Library in Manchester, was fully and freely accessible to the public. The Chesshyre Library in Halton , Cheshire was founded as a free public library in 1733 for all "divines of

8103-529: The middle and upper classes. In A.D 1820, the State Central Library, Kerala started functioning in Trivandrum , India, which is not only India's first public library but also the first such institution outside of Europe. However, there had come into being a whole network of library provisions on a private or institutional basis. Subscription libraries, both private and commercial, provided

8214-433: The middle to upper classes with a variety of books for moderate fees. Private-subscription libraries functioned in much the same manner as commercial subscription libraries, though they varied in many important ways. One of the most popular versions of the private-subscription library was the "gentlemen only" library. The gentlemen's subscription libraries, sometimes known as proprietary libraries, were nearly all organized on

8325-498: The municipalities. The army kept extensive records relating to supply and duty rosters and submitted reports. Merchants, shippers, and landowners (and their personal staffs), especially of the larger enterprises, must have been literate. In the late fourth century, the Desert Father Pachomius would expect the literacy of a candidate for admission to his monasteries: They shall give him twenty Psalms or two of

8436-489: The number of novels as of any other genre. In 1797, Thomas Wilson wrote in The Use of Circulating Libraries : "Consider that for a successful circulating library, the collection must contain 70% fiction". However, the overall percentage of novels mainly depended on the proprietor of the circulating library . While some circulating libraries were almost completely novels, others had less than 10% of their overall collection in

8547-752: The percentage of adults who were illiterate decreased, the actual number of illiterate adults increased from 700 million in 1950 to 878 million in 1990, before starting to decrease and falling to 745 million by 2015. The number of illiterate adults remains higher than in 1950, "despite decades of universal education policies, literacy interventions and the spread of print material and information and communications technology (ICT)". Available global data indicates significant variations in literacy rates between world regions. North America, Europe, West Asia , and Central Asia have almost achieved full literacy for men and women aged 15 or older. Most countries in East Asia and

8658-484: The present-day concept of the public library, were extremely rare as most libraries remained difficult to access. The increase in secular literature at this time encouraged the spread of lending libraries, especially commercial subscription libraries . Commercial subscription libraries began when booksellers began renting out extra copies of books in the mid-18th century. Steven Fischer estimates that in 1790, there were "about six hundred rental and lending libraries, with

8769-463: The public library into the form that it is today. Public access to books is not new. Romans made scrolls in dry rooms available to patrons of the baths, and tried with some success to establish libraries within the empire . Public libraries existed in the Roman Empire by the 1st century BC. In the middle of the 19th century, the push for truly public libraries, paid for by taxes and run by

8880-464: The public. In 1790, The Public Library Act would not be passed for another sixty-seven years. Even though the British Museum existed at this time and contained over 50,000 books, the national library was not open to the public or even to most of the population. Access to the museum depended on passes, for which there was sometimes a waiting period of three to four weeks. Moreover, the library

8991-410: The records of commercial transactions or inventories, mark the end of prehistory and the start of history . Things were very similar in the government and temple records on papyrus of Ancient Egypt . The earliest discovered private archives were kept at Ugarit ; besides correspondence and inventories, texts of myths may have been standardized practice-texts for teaching new scribes. Persia at

9102-402: The registers for the first twelve years provides glimpses of middle-class reading habits in a mercantile community at this period. The largest and most popular sections of the library were History, Antiquities, and Geography, with 283 titles and 6,121 borrowings, and Belles Lettres, with 238 titles and 3,313 borrowings. The most popular single work was John Hawkesworth's Account of Voyages ... in

9213-463: The same time, making it more profitable for the circulating libraries. Much like paperbacks of today, many of the novels in circulating libraries were unbound. At this period of time, many 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 have ushered in

9324-535: The senatorial class) in a new cultural synthesis that made "Christianity the Roman religion". However, these skills were less needed in the absence of a large imperial administrative apparatus whose middle and top echelons were dominated by the elite. Even so, in pre-modern times, it is unlikely that literacy was found in more than about 30–40% of the population. During the Dark Ages , the highest percentage of literacy

9435-765: The seventh century BCE. In the Near East , it was common to record events on clay using the cuneiform script; however, writing Aramaic on leather parchments became common during the Neo-Assyrian empire. With the rise of the Persians in the 5th century BCE, Achaemenid rulers adopted Aramaic as the "diplomatic language". Darius the Great standardized Aramaic, which became the Imperial Aramaic script. This Imperial Aramaic alphabet rapidly spread: west, to

9546-474: The state gained force. Matthew Battles states that: It was in these years of class conflict and economic terror that the public library movement swept through Britain, as the nation's progressive elite recognized that the light of cultural and intellectual energy was lacking in the lives of commoners. Public libraries were often started with a donation , or were bequeathed to parishes , churches, schools or towns. These social and institutional libraries formed

9657-481: The study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was understood solely as alphabetical literacy (word and letter recognition); and the period after 1950, when literacy slowly began to be considered as a wider concept and process, including the social and cultural aspects of reading and writing and functional literacy . The range of definitions of literacy used by NGOs , think tanks , and advocacy groups since

9768-516: The system; additional city libraries, such as Hopkins, were incorporated into the county system. Hennepin County Library opened its first area library, Southdale, in 1973. In the early 1970s plans were in place to merge the Minneapolis Public Library with the Hennepin County Library. However, the Minneapolis library system reconsidered, and merger plans were put on hold. Ultimately, the two library systems reached an agreement, and

9879-577: The time of the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC) was home to some outstanding libraries that were serving two main functions: keeping the records of administrative documents (e.g., transactions, governmental orders, and budget allocation within and between the Satrapies and the central ruling State) and collection of resources on different sets of principles e.g. medical science, astronomy, history, geometry and philosophy. A public library

9990-479: The transformation of social systems that rely on literacy and the changing uses of literacy within those evolving systems. According to 2015 data collected by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics , about two-thirds (63%) of the world's illiterate adults are women. This disparity was even starker in previous decades, and from 1970 to 2000, the global gender gap in literacy decreased significantly. Around

10101-540: The use and instruction of the working classes." There was also the Artizans' library established at Birmingham in 1799. The entrance fee was 3 shillings, and the subscription was 1 shilling 6 pence per quarter. This was a library of general literature. Novels, at first excluded, were afterwards admitted on condition that they did not account for more than one-tenth of the annual income. In 1835, and against government opposition, James Silk Buckingham , MP for Sheffield and

10212-477: The vast majority of the world's illiterate youth live, lower school enrollment implies that illiteracy will persist to a greater degree. According to 2013 data, the youth literacy rate (ages 15 to 24) is 84% in South Asia and North Africa and 70% in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the distinction between literacy and illiteracy is not clear-cut. Given that having a literate person in the household confers many of

10323-721: The world supported by taxes was the Peterborough Town Library in Peterborough, New Hampshire . It was "established in 1833". This was a small public library. The first large public library supported by taxes in the United States was the Boston Public Library , which was established in 1848 but did not open its doors to the public until 1854. Literacy Literacy is the ability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that

10434-613: The young and adults. Public libraries typically allow users to borrow books and other materials outside the library premises temporarily, usually for a given period of time. They also have non-circulating reference collections and provide computer and Internet access to their patrons. The culmination of centuries of advances in the printing press , moveable type , paper , ink , publishing, and distribution, combined with an ever-growing information-oriented middle class , increased commercial activity and consumption, new radical ideas, massive population growth and higher literacy rates forged

10545-414: Was North Branch, established in 1890, more branches in south and east Minneapolis followed, and the system grew with the city. Hennepin County Library started in 1922 as a horse-drawn " bookmobile " to areas outside the core city of Minneapolis. The system saw a large increase in use in the period between 1950 and 1980 as more people moved into suburban areas of the county. By 1952 there were 24 libraries in

10656-408: Was also uncommon for these libraries to have buildings designated solely as the library building during the 1790s, though in the 19th century, many libraries would begin building elaborate permanent residences. Bristol, Birmingham, and Liverpool were the few libraries with their own building. The accommodations varied from the shelf for a few dozen volumes in the country stationer's or draper's shop, to

10767-522: Was essential to be hired. A senior government official told Parliament in 1870: Upon the speedy provision of elementary education depends our industrial prosperity. It is of no use trying to give technical teaching to our citizens without elementary education; uneducated labourers—and many of our labourers are utterly uneducated—are, for the most part, unskilled labourers, and if we leave our work–folk any longer unskilled, notwithstanding their strong sinews and determined energy, they will become overmatched in

10878-659: Was established in 1608 (six years after Thomas Bodley founded the Bodleian Library , which was open to the "whole republic of the learned") and Chetham's Library in Manchester, which claims to be the oldest public library in the English-speaking world, opened in 1653. Biblioteca Palafoxiana in Puebla City , Mexico, is recognized by UNESCO for being the first public library in the Americas . It

10989-683: Was established in Rome by the first century BC, in the Atrium Libertatis (see History of libraries § Classical period and Gaius Asinius Pollio § Later life ). However, the first major public library is said to have been established in Athens by Pisistratus in the sixth century BC (see Library of Alexandria § Historical background ), and by the end of the Hellenistic period , public libraries are said to have been widespread in

11100-604: Was first used by the Olmec and Zapotec civilizations in 900–400 BCE. These civilizations used glyphic writing and bar-and-dot numerical notation systems for purposes related to royal iconography and calendar systems. The earliest written notations in China date back to the Shang dynasty in 1200 BCE. These systematic notations, inscribed on bones, recorded sacrifices made, tributes received, and animals hunted, which were activities of

11211-471: Was found among the clergy and monks, as they made up much of the staff needed to administer the states of western Europe. An abundance of graffiti written in the Nabataean script dating back to the beginning of the first millennium CE has been taken to imply a relatively high degree of literacy among the general population in the ancient Arabic-speaking world. Post-Antiquity illiteracy was made worse by

11322-665: Was founded in 1646 by Juan de Palafox y Mendoza . In his seminal work Advis pour dresser une bibliothèque (1644) the French scholar and librarian Gabriel Naudé asserted that only three libraries in all Europe granted in his times regular access to every scholar, namely the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, the Biblioteca Angelica in Rome, and the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Claude Sallier ,

11433-511: Was made for a library to be erected in the house of the Kalendars. A reference is made to a deed of that date by which it was "appointed that all who wish to enter for the sake of instruction shall have 'free access and recess' at certain times." In 1598, Francis Trigge established a library in a room above St. Wulfram's Church in Grantham, Lincolnshire and decreed that it should be open to

11544-542: Was made in 1953 when three arrowheads were uncovered, each containing identical Canaanite inscriptions from 12th century BCE. According to Frank Moore Cross , these inscriptions consisted of alphabetic signs that originated during the transitional development from pictographic script to a linear alphabet. Moreover, he asserts, "These inscriptions also provided clues to extend the decipherment of earlier and later alphabetic texts". The Canaanite script's consonantal system inspired alphabetical developments in later systems. During

11655-552: Was not open for browsing. Once a pass to the library had been issued, the reader was taken on a tour of the library. Many readers complained that the tour was much too short. Similarly, the Bibliothèque du Roi in Paris required a potential visitor to be "carefully screened" and, even after this stipulation was met, the library was open only two days per week and only to view medallions and engravings, not books. However, up until

11766-588: Was not the case in all ancient societies: both Charpin and the EU's emerging scholarship suggest that writing and literacy were far more widespread in Mesopotamia than scholars previously thought. According to social anthropologist Jack Goody , there are two interpretations regarding the origin of the alphabet. Many classical scholars, such as historian Ignace Gelb , credit the Ancient Greeks for creating

11877-616: Was open to the public and was the first Polish public library, the biggest in Poland, and one of the earliest public libraries in Europe. At the start of the 18th century, libraries were becoming increasingly public and were more frequently lending libraries . The 18th century saw the switch from closed parochial libraries to lending libraries. Before this time, public libraries were parochial in nature, and libraries frequently chained their books to desks. Libraries also were not uniformly open to

11988-530: Was prominent in the Mediterranean region until Neo-Babylonian rulers exiled the Jews to Babylon in the 6th century BCE. It was then that the new script ( Square Hebrew ) emerged, and the older one rapidly died out. The Aramaic alphabet also emerged sometime between 1200 and 1000 BCE. Although early examples are scarce, archeologists have uncovered a wide range of later Aramaic texts, written as early as

12099-581: Was somewhat widespread by the Old Babylonian period. Nonetheless, professional scribes became central to law, finances, accounting, government, administration, medicine, magic, divination, literature, and prayers. Egyptian hieroglyphs emerged between 3300 BCE and 3100 BCE; the iconography emphasized power among royals and other elites. The Egyptian hieroglyphic writing system was the first notation system to have phonetic values; these symbols are called phonograms . Writing in lowland Mesoamerica

12210-437: Was the eleventh library to open, in 1857, after Winchester , Manchester , Liverpool , Bolton , Kidderminster , Cambridge , Birkenhead and Sheffield . The 1850 Act was noteworthy because it established the principle of free public libraries. In 1866, an amending Act was passed which eliminated the population limit for the establishment of a library and replaced the two-thirds majority previously required for adoption with

12321-612: Was well established in early 18th century England, when books geared towards children became far more common. Near the end of the century, as many as 50 were printed every year in major cities around England. In the 19th century, reading would become even more common in the United Kingdom. Public notes, broadsides, handbills, catchpennies and printed songs would have been usual street literature before newspapers became common. Other forms of popular reading material included advertising for events, theaters, and goods for sale. In his 1836/1837 Pickwick Papers Charles Dickens's said that: even

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