|
What Is A Library?
By Ernest Cushing Richardson In English, according to the concise Oxford
dictionary, there are at least five or sic right meanings for
the word library--a building for books, a collection of books, a
body of persons keeping books, a series, the works used by a
certain author.
The London Library and the library of universal knowledge are
different kinds of things and the "London Library" is
a phrase misleading to those who think of a library as a free
municipal library.
The phrase a "Carnegie library" is right by
the dictionary but it has "mislead" millions who think
of a library as having books. Mr. Carnegie has given hundreds of
library buildings (and has thereby made the greatest
contribution to popular education of any man of his time) but he
has given few libraries in the sense of book collections. The
John Crerar Library of Chicago, on the other hand, is a superb
library which existed for many years in the Field building
before it decided on a building of its own. It was the John
Crerar Library, but there was no John Crerar Library building at
all. In the same way thousands of public libraries have no
buildings to their names, although of course they are housed
somewhere--in a city hall, school building, church.
* * * *
*
[According to Assyriologists] A library, therefore, to
be a library, must be both literary and big "an extensive
literary collection--a real library"--"very extensive
literary collection," a "large literary archive."
It appears farther that even this is not enough and in order to
be a library a collection must not only be large and literary
but it must be like that of Ashurbanapal, in being gathered from
many centers "since an extensive literary collection--a
real library--could only be brought together by gathering
besides local texts "such as were used elsewhere."
"In other words the only library as yet found in the
Mesopotamia excavations is the royal collection of Ninevah."
This is the "only collection . . . that merits the name of
library, in the sense in which that term is ordinarily
understood" or "at all events the term having been
peempted by the general consensus of Assyriologists for
Ashurbanapal's collection we have no right to apply" to
anything but one just like it and "the term library"
should be restricted to the collection made by Ashurbanapal.
* * * *
*
A library then "in the proper and ordinary sense of the
term" or "in the sense in which that term is
ordinarily understood (by Assyriologists) is very big, wholly
literary, gathered from various geographical sources, not
associated with schools. No such library is known save that of
Ashurbanapal and no other is likely save for Babylon--(Marduk
temple) and perhaps Borsippa (Nebo temple).
* * * *
*
With this latter alternative conclusion and with the
constructive conclusions no one will quarrel: it is only the
conclusion that no library smaller than that of Ashurbanapal or
less literary should be called library, which needs attention.
The constructive conclusions are as follows: (1) the temples
had extensive archives, (2) these contained primarily temple
business records including letters, (3) they contained also
private business documents, contracts, deeds, wills, etc., while
private business firms kept their own collections of records as
well an in their own counting rooms, (4) temples had schools and
(5) these schools had their outfit for instruction, sign lists,
exercises, etc., also religious texts, and these ranged perhaps
into the hundreds if not thousands, (6) religious texts used in
the temple were also kept if not in the schools, then in some
other part of the temple area.
* * * *
*
The matter is too obvious. The Report of the United States
Commissioner of Education for 1912, for example, recognizes
10,329 public high school libraries having an average of only
600 volumes each. In many states the average high school library
according to this is under 300 volumes. In the same report again
statistics are given of 458 special school "libraries"
of which 79 have 200 volumes or under and 29 have actually under
100 volumes. there are thousands of public libraries in the
United States with less then 300 volumes which have state and
national recognition as libraries and tens of thousands called
libraries less formally.
The United States government also recognizes officially a
library of exclusive public documents, while, in this era of
"special libraries," there are not a few which consist
almost exclusively of business documents, public or private,
railway reports, insurance company reports, government and state
documents, law reports, collections of statutes and the like.
Size of course does not count. The smallest man is yet a man
and even the smallest private library is yet a library. When Mr.
Fleming said that his "whole library, like that of Abraham
Lincoln, consisted of a Bible and a blue-back speller"
nobody either misunderstood or objected. Indeed a small man may
be much more of a man than a big one, and a library of 10
volumes more valuable than another of 10,000--for every purpose.
So of documents.
"Business" character too does not count; many a
farmer's library is made up almost wholly of free government
documents and railroad literature: and it any indeed be a rather
large, well selected and useful library at that. certainly
neither collection is a man's "archive."
So again, and obviously, locality does not count: There must
be many libraries in Italy, say, containing only Italian books
printed in Italy.
* * * *
*
In brief, thus there was at least one school
library and one theological library as well as one archive, or
record office in the broad sense, in every city.
It appears, therefore, that on the face of it in
"the proper and ordinary sense of the term" there were
at least two libraries in every place even if an archive is not a
library, and it may confidently be hoped that Assyriologists will
accept this much at least.
* * * *
*
A library is thus a book or a collection of books
kept for use, and one kind of book kept for use, and one
kind of book kept for use is the original or official copy of a
public document. Collections of these are archives, but they are
none the less libraries, as would appear to all, if all the
documents were made, as some are, in printed book form.
It may at least be confidently hoped that with
this full explanation no one will object to the use of the word
library in its "right" sense in this essay, if care is
taken not to make "a Bible and New England Primer"
library pose as the British Museum Library.
Source: Ernest Cushing Richardson, Biblical
Libraries: A Sketch of Library History from 3400 B.C. to A.D.
150. Princeton University Press, 1914 * * * *
*
posted 23 June
2008 |
