Library : an unquiet history

By:

Battles, Matthew

Publication details: London : Vintage, 2004Description: xa, 245pISBN:

0099437074

Subject(s):

NLM classification:

Z 665.

Summary: Through the ages, libraries have not only accumulated and preserved, but shaped, inspired and obliterated knowledge. Matthew Battles takes us on a fascinating journey from Boston to Baghdad, from classical scriptoria to medieval monasteries, from the Vatican to the British Library. The library has been a battleground of competing notions of what books mean to us, from the clay-tablet collections of ancient Mesopotamia to the legendary libraries of Alexandria, from the burned scrolls of the Qing Dynasty to the book-pyres of the Hitler Youth, from the Dewey Decimal System to the Internet. Battles explores how the library has served two contradictory impulses: to exalt canons of literature, to secure and celebrate the best writing; and the desire to contain all forms of human knowledge - to keep all the books. In its custody of books and the words they contain, the library has confronted and tamed technology, the forces of change and the power of princes time and again.

Holdings
Item type	Home library	Class number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Book	South London and Maudsley Trust Library Shelves	Z 665 BAT (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		023377

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Previous	Z 551 FRE Freedom of information handbook /	Z 551 KEY The information governance toolkit :	Z 551 OPP Information law : compliance for librarians, information professionals and knowledge managers	Z 665 BAT Library : an unquiet history	Z 665 EVI Evidence-based practice for information professionals :	Z 666 COL Learning to fly :	Z 680 BRO Measuring library performance : principles and techniques	Next

Through the ages, libraries have not only accumulated and preserved, but shaped, inspired and obliterated knowledge. Matthew Battles takes us on a fascinating journey from Boston to Baghdad, from classical scriptoria to medieval monasteries, from the Vatican to the British Library.

The library has been a battleground of competing notions of what books mean to us, from the clay-tablet collections of ancient Mesopotamia to the legendary libraries of Alexandria, from the burned scrolls of the Qing Dynasty to the book-pyres of the Hitler Youth, from the Dewey Decimal System to the Internet. Battles explores how the library has served two contradictory impulses: to exalt canons of literature, to secure and celebrate the best writing; and the desire to contain all forms of human knowledge - to keep all the books. In its custody of books and the words they contain, the library has confronted and tamed technology, the forces of change and the power of princes time and again.

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