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  3. Library The library is a place where books, journals, microfilms, audio and visual materials are kept and organized to suppo

Library The library is a place where books, journals, microfilms, audio and visual materials are kept and organized to suppo

admin2010-06-11  27
问题                                          Library
    The library is a place where books, journals, microfilms, audio and visual materials are kept and organized to support the cultural, informational, recreational, and educational needs of the general public or specific groups of users.  Recent advances in computing and communication technologies have transformed the contemporary library: it is not only a warehouse, but now also an active member in a vast network of libraries and databanks through which users have access to a world-wide store of recorded knowledge.
    The most common kinds of libraries are public libraries and those of schools, colleges and universities, and government. In addition, many specialized libraries serving industry, commerce, the media, and the professions have been established during the past half century. In the United States and Canada alone more than 135,000 libraries exist, ranging in size from the Library of Congress to the smallest elementary school facilities.
Classification Systems and the Catalog
    Library classification systems permit users to find a particular book or author, or to discover what books on a particular subject are held by the library. Most libraries use one of three major classification systems: the Dewey Decimal System, invented by Melvil Dewey; the Universal Decimal Classification, a European adaptation of Dewey; or a system developed by the Library of Congress. The library’s catalog not only lists the library’s contents but also analyzes them, so that all works by an individual author, all works on a given subject, and all works in a specific category (dictionaries, music, or maps, for example) can be easily located by readers. The modem catalog is a practical tool that is the result of the analysis of the subject, category, and contents of books, videocassettes, microfilms, compact discs, and a host of other informational vehicles.
    The library’s own card catalog is only one of the many forms in which catalog and bibliographic materials are available. Large libraries own the National Union Catalog, for example, a cumulative listing of the library resources of the Library of Congress and other major and specialized libraries in the United States and Canada.  Specialized libraries may own or subscribe to such specialized catalogs as the Eighteenth Century Short Title Catalog (ESTC), a computerized database listing every publication--book, pamphlet, or single sheet -- printed between 170l and 1800 in English or, if in a foreign language, in English-speaking countries.
    Cataloging and classifying are expensive processes. Many libraries cut expenses by subscribing to a computerized bibliographic service. To locate materials that are not among its. holdings, a library may inquire the Online Computer Library Center ( OCLC ) or the Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN), which are the two major national catalog networks. Through their computerized databases, these networks offer interlibrary loan services that can operate, if necessary, across the continent.
History
    The earliest ancient libraries were clay tablet storerooms in ancient Mesopotamia, and the later papyrus scroll libraries in Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Ashurbanipal’s library in Nineveh (7th century BC) consisted of thousands of inscribed clay tablets recording laws, astronomical data, commercial transactions, narrative poems, and royal happenings. A 30,000-tablet library has been discovered at diggings in the ancient Sumerian city of Nippur, and other extensive libraries have been found throughout the Mesopotamian region.
    The earliest large Greek library is traced to Aristotle (4th century BC), but the greatest was established (3d century BC) by Ptolemy I in the museum at Alexandria, Egypt. Scholars there copied, revised and edited works of the classical Greek writers. Their copies of ancient works became the standard editions on which other ancient copyists and libraries depended and, ultimately, the basis of most of the manuscripts in European libraries. The library flourished for several centuries and held about 500,000 papyrus scrolls.
    Libraries in the Middle Ages were established in monasteries throughout Europe, and in cathedrals that served as links between the monasteries and universities. Manuscripts were laboriously copied by hand on sheets of sheep skin that were assembled into wood-bound volumes.
    In the Muslim word, Damascus, Baghdad, and many other cities had libraries, but most were destroyed by the 13th century.  In China the first libraries were established during the Qin (Ch’in) dynasty (221-206 BC), when one copy of every book in the empire was placed in an imperial library and all other copies (with certain exceptions) were burned. In the 1st century AD the Hen dynasty Imperial Library owned 677 works, of which 47 survive. The Sui dynasty library (7th century AD) had over 5,000 titles and divided its holdings into four categories: Confucian classics, philosophy, history, and literature. This division was used until the 20th century. The Song (Sung) dynasty saw the invention of movable-type printing, and both inexpensive books and large private libraries made their appearance. No Western-style libraries existed for the general public until after the fall of the Qing (Ch’ing) dynasty in 1911.
    In Europe the advent of printing in the 15th century brought down the cost of books by speeding up the process of copying. Private libraries became more common, and by the 17th century a few public libraries had come into being. Thereafter the number of libraries increased in both Europe and America. Users remained few in number, however, until literacy became more widespread during the 18th century.
    In the 17th century, France’s national library, the Bibliotheque Nationale, was founded in Pads. The British Library, originally a part of the British Museum, was sat up during the 8th century. The first academic library in the United States was established by John Harvard at Harvard College in 1638. In 1731, Benjamin Franklin founded the Library Company of Philadelphia, the first subscription library in America. Dues paid by its members were used to buy books, which could then be borrowed, without charge, by the members. Franklin’s library provided a pattern for the modern public library, a uniquely American institution where anyone may independently pursue self-education.
    The first U. S. public library was opened in Salisbury, Conn., in 1803, the result of a gift of 150 books by a resident. New York State began to develop its free public libraries beginning in 1835,by legislating the establishment of tax-suppored libraries in state school districts. Within each state, library system developed rapidly under the administration’ of municipalities, counties, or regions. The U. S. federal government established national libraries of medicine and agriculture, as well as departmental and agency libraries: it supports the Library of Congress and provides some funding for the various public and institutional library systems in the country.
    Most countries have now established their own national libraries, but their oldest university libraries often have richer collections of rare materials. Harvard and Yale in the United States and Oxford (the Bodleian Library) and Cambridge in England are famous for their bibliographical treasures. Government libraries for the most part date flora the 19th and 20th centuries; the great public libraries -- those of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago -- though older, did not develop into anything even approaching their present size until late in the 19th century.
    Two national libraries, one in Beijing (People’s Republic of China ) and the other in Taipei (Taiwan), opened their new buildings in 1987 and 1988 ,respectively. The Beijing library is among the largest in the world, with holdings of 14 million items. (The world’s largest is the U. S•  Library of Congress, with over 88 million items in 1988, including 14. 5 million books and 36. 5 million manuscripts. )
Library Trends
    The trend of library policy is clearly toward the ideal of making all information available inexpensively and quickly to all people. Because of the information explosion and the issues raised by the control and preservation of knowledge, accomplishment of this goal is difficult.  Reductions in public funding, the increase in paper-format (book) publishing, and rising costs of technology make it necessary for conservationists, archivists and librarians to cooperate in resolving their problems. For example, paper decay has plagued libraries for many years.  Microfilm copying, was adopted as a makeshift way of maintaining readability, but now, stress is being placed on conservation techniques to stop the decay of the volumes themselves, New standards for permanent paper are being proposed, as well as direct publication in non-print media.
    Preservation, as the 21st century nears, extends beyond familiar maintenance and responsibilities. The problem of preserving not just the physical media (books, journals, and so on, but the momentary information embodied in electronic form must now be faced. Ambiguous public policy, costly technology, an unfavorable economy, and a growing shortage of qualified librarians are all combined to make the healthful survival of libraries one of the major issues of the 1990s.
The trend of library policy is clearly toward the ideal of making all information _____________ to all people.
选项
答案available inexpensively and quickly
解析 见小标题Library Trends下第一段第一句话。
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