The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland – serie

Since the mid-nineteenth century an unprecedented expansion and diversification of library activity has taken place. The Public Libraries Act of 1850 founded a tradition of public provision and service which continues today, and national and academic libraries have grown and multiplied. Libraries have become an industry rather than a localised phenomenon, and librarianship has developed from a scholarly craft to a scientific profession. The essays in this volume present a picture of great diversity, covering public, national, academic, subscription and private libraries. The users of libraries are an important part of their history and are considered here in detail, alongside the development of the library profession and the impact of new information technologies. The place of the library within society and the growth of a professional structure to manage new demands on information are the central concerns of this volume, which celebrates the diversity of the modern library world.

This volume is a survey of libraries in Britain and Ireland up to the Civil War. It traces the transition from collections of books without a fixed local habitation to the library, chiefly of printed books, much as we know it today. It examines changing patterns in the formation of book collections in the earlier medieval period, traces the combined impact of the activities of the mendicant orders and the scholarship of the universities in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the adoption of the library room and the growth of private book collections in the fourteenth and fifteenth. The volume then focuses upon the dispersal of the monastic libraries in the mid-sixteenth centuries, the creation of new types of library, and finally, the steps whereby the collections amassed by antiquaries came to form the bases of the national and institutional libraries of Britain and Ireland.

The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland describes the development of libraries in Great Britain and Ireland over some 1500 years, and their role as a part of the social, intellectual and cultural history. In addition to obvious links with the history of books and literature, the volumes include consideration of education, technology, social philosophy, architecture and the arts, as they have affected libraries. The significant international dimension, which has affected British and Irish libraries from the Middle Ages to the present, receives due attention. Other themes considered in each volume include the housing, storage and maintenance of books and other material; the individuals responsible for their care and those who used them; developments in provision, organization and cataloguing; and the principles and attitudes - of librarians and users - which such developments reflect.

This is the first detailed scholarly history of libraries in Britain and Ireland, first published in 2006. It aims to provide a panorama of the great variety of libraries since the medieval period, setting them in their social and cultural contexts and interpreting their role as it has changed over time. Libraries of all kinds are included, from monastic libraries and other manuscript collections to the modern world of electronic information. Special attention is given to the purposes of libraries - in education, for professional use, for religious purposes and of course for leisure and general reading. Large libraries and small are covered, with examples from all over the British Isles of how needs have been met. Each volume includes an extensive bibliography of sources and secondary works.

This volume is a survey of libraries in Britain and Ireland up to the Civil War. It traces the transition from collections of books without a fixed local habitation to the library, chiefly of printed books, much as we know it today. It examines changing patterns in the formation of book collections in the earlier medieval period, traces the combined impact of the activities of the mendicant orders and the scholarship of the universities in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the adoption of the library room and the growth of private book collections in the fourteenth and fifteenth. The volume then focuses upon the dispersal of the monastic libraries in the mid-sixteenth centuries, the creation of new types of library, and finally, the steps whereby the collections amassed by antiquaries came to form the bases of the national and institutional libraries of Britain and Ireland.

The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland describes the development of libraries in Great Britain and Ireland over some 1500 years, and their role as a part of the social, intellectual and cultural history. In addition to obvious links with the history of books and literature, the volumes include consideration of education, technology, social philosophy, architecture and the arts, as they have affected libraries. The significant international dimension, which has affected British and Irish libraries from the Middle Ages to the present, receives due attention. Other themes considered in each volume include the housing, storage and maintenance of books and other material; the individuals responsible for their care and those who used them; developments in provision, organization and cataloguing; and the principles and attitudes - of librarians and users - which such developments reflect.