Definition of Public Library

From an etymological point of view, library means closet or custody of books. A public library is a space for reading and consulting books. You can also carry out a series of associated activities: consulting files, documents, of the written press (the well-known newspaper archives), loan of books, sound library service, access to Internet, etc. In short, all the activities that are carried out are related to knowledge and the book has a special role.

Public libraries are, as their name implies, a public service, which means that it is promoted by some state body (for example, municipal libraries) and its function is to spread culture to the whole of society. For this reason, access to libraries is free and free, although it is common for users to have a specific card to access the book loan service.

Evolution of the concept of library

The most remarkable historical reference of the library in antiquity is the one that existed in the city of Alexandria during the Hellenistic period. It is estimated that it was founded in the lll century BC. C and its final destruction occurred in the lV century d. C. Is

institution It was more than just a library, it was a center for investigation in which there were different areas (of botany, zoology, anatomy, meeting rooms, etc).

During the Middle Ages, libraries were found in monasteries, where copyists reproduced copies of classical works by hand (copies were made in the scriptorium). At that time, access to books and knowledge in general was restricted to the clergy and nobility and most of the population he had no contact with culture or libraries.

From the seventeenth century, libraries began to be created in some European cities, which was due to two main reasons: the development of the printing press since the fifteenth century and the consolidation of a new social class, the bourgeoisie.

In the eighteenth century the first public libraries appeared and in the nineteenth century they were consolidated as cultural centers to disseminate access to the education as a service oriented to the whole of society.

Public library today

Currently most libraries are digitized, so their capacity to store knowledge has multiplied exponentially. On the other hand, in most of them, complementary activities are carried out in order to stimulate the culture: readings for children, reading clubs, forums of debate, conferences, exhibitions, etc.

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