Library facts for kids
A library is a special place where many books are kept for people to read or borrow. Most libraries are open to everyone and let you take books home for a few weeks. Some libraries belong to specific groups like companies, churches, schools, or universities. Even a person's bookshelves at home can be called a library if they have many books! The people who work in libraries are called librarians.
Besides books, libraries often have other cool things you might like. You can find magazines, music on CDs, or even computers where you can use the Internet. School libraries might also offer special computer programs to help you learn new things. Remember, a library is different from a bookstore, which is a store that sells books. Libraries let you borrow for free!
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Public Libraries: Books for Everyone
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Many towns and cities have a public library. Anyone who lives in the area can join and get a library card. With this card, you can borrow books and take them home for several weeks. It usually doesn't cost any money to get a library card at a public library.
Books in libraries are kept on shelves in a special order so they are easy to find. Public libraries have all kinds of books, from exciting stories to books about many different topics. For example, many public libraries have books and CDs about learning English. Storybooks are usually placed in alphabetical order by the last name of the author (the person who wrote them). Books about other subjects are often given a special number. This number helps you know what the book is about. Then, these books are put on the shelf in number order. One common number system used by many libraries is the Dewey decimal system.
Academic Libraries: For Study and Research
Many colleges and universities have very large academic libraries. These libraries are mainly for college students, professors, and people doing deep research. Academic libraries are used for serious study, like learning about the solar system or how earthquakes happen.
These libraries usually don't have the same kinds of books you would find in a public library. For example, they often don't have fiction books (storybooks) or books for young children, unless those books are being studied for a project. Academic libraries can hold a huge number of books, sometimes more than a million!
Special Libraries: Unique Collections
Special libraries are different from public or academic libraries. They are usually smaller and often focus on a particular subject or even a special kind of book. For instance, some special libraries might only keep very old books, or all the books written by a famous writer like Shakespeare.
A business might own a special library just for its employees. For example, Disney World in Orlando has its own library. It's not open to the public, but it's there for the people who work for the company to use.
Librarians: Your Library Guides
A librarian is a person who works in a library. Librarians are super helpful! They can help you find books and information you need. They can also teach you how to use the library's systems and find what you're looking for. A professional librarian is someone who went to college to study "library science." They can even earn a special degree called a Masters in Library Science.
History of Libraries
Libraries have been around for a very long time! The oldest known library was found in Iraq. It belonged to an ancient civilization called Sumer. Back then, they didn't use paper books. Instead, they wrote everything on clay tablets using a special writing style called cuneiform. These tablets are over 5,000 years old!
The Library of Alexandria in Egypt was the biggest and most important library in the ancient world. Sadly, it was destroyed when the Romans took over Egypt around 30 BC. Rome later built its first public library, and eventually had 28 public libraries in the city. When the Roman Empire ended around 330 AD, many books were moved east to the city of Byzantium, where a large library was built. Other libraries were set up in monasteries and private homes.
Libraries also grew in many Islamic cities where science and philosophy were important after the Roman Empire fell. Interestingly, Christian monks and Islamic libraries sometimes traded books to copy. These books eventually made their way back to Europe and helped start the Renaissance, a time of great learning and art. European universities also began creating academic libraries for their students around this time.
The 17th and 18th centuries are sometimes called "The Golden Age of Libraries." During this period, national libraries were created all over Europe. These big national libraries collected books published in their own country, as well as some important books from other countries.
Images for kids
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The Library of the Palais Bourbon in Paris
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Duke Humfrey's Library, Oxford, England
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The Sistine Hall of the Vatican Library.
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The State Library Victoria's La Trobe Reading Room
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The round reading room of Maughan Library, the main university library of King's College London, London, England
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The Robarts Library at the University of Toronto, Canada
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A children's library in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1943
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Interior of the National Library of Finland in Helsinki, Finland
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National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
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Raczyński Library, the public library of Poznań, Poland
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A community library in Ethiopia
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Bates Hall, the main reading room of the Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
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Main reading room of the New York City Public Library on 5th Avenue c. 1910–1920
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Quaid-e-Azam Library in Bagh-e-Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan
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Bookshelf at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The top floor contains 180,000 volumes. Since 1977, all new acquisitions are frozen at −33 °F (−36 °C) to prevent the spread of insects and diseases.
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The Long Room of the Trinity College Library in Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. It is a legal deposit or "copyright library" and is entitled to receive a copy of all books published in the UK.
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Library shelves in Hong Kong, showing numbers of the classification scheme to help readers locate works in that section
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Card used by a user to sign out a book
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Butler Library at Columbia University, est. 1759
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National Library of India, Kolkata, est. 1836
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Until the advent of digital catalogues, card catalogues were the traditional method of organizing the list of resources and their location within a large library.
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Reading room at the State and University Library, the national library of Denmark
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Dynix was an early, but long-lasting and popular, digital catalogue.
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Interior of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt, showing both stacks and computer terminals
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Stacks of the José Vasconcelos Library in Mexico City, Mexico
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British Museum Reading Room
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See also
In Spanish: Biblioteca para niños
