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TRIVIA TODAY - Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Greetings Infomaniacs,
Tonight is my first graduate school class, and I am a little
nervous! I am working towards a Masters degree in Library
and Information Science, so that hopefully in a couple of
years I can work as a librarian. I'm excited to get started
on the program, but it's also going to be an adjustment
going back to school!
Enjoy!
Melissa
Email Melissa: mailto:melissa@gophercentral.com
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TODAY'S MYSTERY QUOTE
QUOTE: "What is more important in a library than anything
else - than everything else - is the fact that it exists."
HINT: (1892-1982), American poet, writer, and the Librarian
of Congress, associated with the Modernist school of poetry.
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RANDOM TIDBITS
Small private libraries existed in America from early
colonial times. Ministers and doctors, for instance,
usually had small private collections, as did churches and
colleges, ranging from a few dozen volumes to a few hundred.
In the 1700s, many of these church collections were
available to their parishioners, but there was usually no
system for preserving or maintaining them, and they just
wasted away over the years.
***
Colleges and universities had private libraries as early as
1638, when the Reverend John Harvard bequeathed a recently-
founded college around 280 books and an endowment. At the
time, books symbolized wealth: scholars and colleges often
measured their affluence based on the size of their book
collections.
***
The first trend that led to our public library system was
the so-called "social library," invented by Benjamin
Franklin. In 1731, he initiated a "subscription library"
as a way of sharing books among members of a literary
society, and in 1742 it was incorporated as the Library
Company of Philadelphia, the first established in the U.S.
You could join the library by buying stock in the company,
and books were only available to members.
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
VIDEO CLIP
Silent Library Pt.1
A library is a rather unusual place to serve as the setting
for a bizarre Japanese Game Show. No matter what goes on in
the library you must keep quiet, which is a lot harder than
it looks.
http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=12679
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The second trend was the "circulating" library, which also
developed in the late 1700s. These were often housed in
bookstores or print shops, and rented out books. They
offered popular materials such as the latest fiction,
including that 18th century innovation - novels. What was
probably the first circulating library was opened by
William Rind of Anapolis, Maryland, in 1762. It only lasted
two years, but the idea caught on.
***
Horace Mann, secretary of the Massachusetts Board of
Education, was responsible for the third trend - school
district libraries. Mann pushed for school libraries in
the 1830s, raising a basic question: After we educate our
children, what do they have to read? Educators and
eventually legislators looked to the school district
library (funded through taxes) to provide reading for
adults as well as children.
***
The first library to combine those three principles was the
town library of Peterborough, New Hampshire, founded in
1833. The state had collected taxes to start a state college,
but the effort fizzled and the money was allocated among
various towns to support education. Peterborough decided to
use some of the money to purchase books for a town library
--a publicly owned institution, free to all residents. The
idea apparently proved popular; in 1849, New Hampshire
became the first state to pass a law permitting local taxes
to support public libraries.
(www.straightdope.com)
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*** Weekly Mind-Scrambler ***
In spring I am gay in handsome array;
in summer more clothing I wear;
when colder it grows I fling off my clothes;
and in winter quite naked appear.
Submit your answer by visiting: http://gopherarchives.gophercentral.com/TheDailyTease.aspx
Answer will be posted in Friday's Trivia Today. Good Luck!
If your name appears in Friday's newsletter,
email me your complete name and address and I will ship
your prize.
Be sure to put "Winner" in the subject line.
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QUOTE: "What is more important in a library than anything
else - than everything else - is the fact that it exists."
ANSWER: Archibald MacLeish.
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