I thought I had the whole day free today. That was before I discovered The Davies Project and their Database of American Libraries before 1876.
This database covers institutional and commercial libraries that existed in what is now the continental United States from the time of first settlement through 1875. It records nearly 10,000 libraries. The end-date of 1876 is important because in that year the United State Bureau of Education published its first comprehensive, national listing of libraries, entitled
Public Libraries in the United States of America: Their History, Condition, and Management. Special Report. Part. 1 [bespacific]
The Guardian has a "how to" section about
how to use a library. Required reading for bibliophiles or just the book-curious.
In most libraries, there is a section of large-print books. The print is so large, in fact, that most of the text has to be removed. For example, in 100 Years Of Solitude, you'll be lucky to get 40 Years Of Moderate Loneliness.
I have been reading a book called
The Book on the Book Shelf which is not a history of books, or libraries, but a history of shelving. As many of you likely know, books
used to be so precious and so rare that they were only allowed to be used if they were
permanently chained to
their shelves and by extension, their desks.
![[information springs from everyplace!]](http://www.librarian.net/pics/springlib.gif)
![[link to it]](http://www.librarian.net/pics/linktoit.gif)