Author: Josephus NelsonPublisher: Washington : Library of Congress
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 72
Book Description
Full Circle
Author: Josephus NelsonPublisher: Washington : Library of Congress
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 72
Book Description
Libraries and the Reading Public in Twentieth-Century America
Author: Christine PawleyPublisher: University of Wisconsin Pres
ISBN: 0299293238
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Book Description
For well over one hundred years, libraries open to the public have played a crucial part in fostering in Americans the skills and habits of reading and writing, by routinely providing access to standard forms of print: informational genres such as newspapers, pamphlets, textbooks, and other reference books, and literary genres including poetry, plays, and novels. Public libraries continue to have an extraordinary impact; in the early twenty-first century, the American Library Association reports that there are more public library branches than McDonald's restaurants in the United States. Much has been written about libraries from professional and managerial points of view, but less so from the perspectives of those most intimately involved—patrons and librarians. Drawing on circulation records, patron reviews, and other archived materials, Libraries and the Reading Public in Twentieth-Century America underscores the evolving roles that libraries have played in the lives of American readers. Each essay in this collection examines a historical circumstance related to reading in libraries. The essays are organized in sections on methods of researching the history of reading in libraries; immigrants and localities; censorship issues; and the role of libraries in providing access to alternative, nonmainstream publications. The volume shows public libraries as living spaces where individuals and groups with diverse backgrounds, needs, and desires encountered and used a great variety of texts, images, and other media throughout the twentieth century.
Reading Rooms
Author: Susan Allen TothPublisher: New York : Doubleday
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 520
Book Description
On cover: America's foremost writers celebrate our public libraries with stories, memoirs, essays, and poems.
Main Street Public Library
Author: Wayne A. WiegandPublisher: University of Iowa Press
ISBN: 1609380681
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 261
Book Description
The United States has more public libraries than it has McDonald’s restaurants. By any measure, the American public library is a heavily used and ubiquitous institution. Popular thinking identifies the public library as a neutral agency that protects democratic ideals by guarding against censorship as it makes information available to people from all walks of life. Among librarians this idea is known as the “library faith.” But is the American public library as democratic as it appears to be? In Main Street Public Library, eminent library historian Wayne Wiegand studies four emblematic small-town libraries in the Midwest from the late nineteenth century through the federal Library Service Act of 1956, and shows that these institutions served a much different purpose than is so often perceived. Rather than acting as neutral institutions that are vital to democracy, the libraries of Sauk Centre, Minnesota; Osage, Iowa; Rhinelander, Wisconsin; and Lexington, Michigan, were actually mediating community literary values and providing a public space for the construction of social harmony. These libraries, and the librarians who ran them, were often just as susceptible to the political and social pressures of their time as any other public institution. By analyzing the collections of all four libraries and revealing what was being read and why certain acquisitions were passed over, Wiegand challenges both traditional perceptions and professional rhetoric about the role of libraries in our small-town communities. While the American public library has become essential to its local community, it is for reasons significantly different than those articulated by the “library faith.”
Souvenir of the West Chester Library and Reading Room
Author: Westchester County (N.Y.). Public LibraryPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 82
Book Description
Reading-room and Libraries
Author: British MuseumPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Library architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 24
Book Description
Institutions of Reading
Author: Thomas AugstPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 392
Book Description
Tracing the evolution of the library as a modern institution from the late eighteenth century to the digital era, this book explores the diverse practices by which Americans have shared reading matter for instruction, edification, and pleasure. Writing from a rich variety of perspectives, the contributors raise important questions about the material forms and social shapes of American culture. What is a library? How have libraries fostered communities of readers and influenced the practice of reading in particular communities? How did the development of modern libraries alter the boundaries of individual and social experience, and define new kinds of public culture? To what extent have libraries served as commercial enterprises, as centers of power, and as places of empowerment for African Americans, women, and ...
New Reading-Room and Libraries
Author: Public Libraries in America
Author: William Isaac FletcherPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Libraries
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
Reading Room and New Library
Author: British Museum. Reading RoomPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 24
Book Description