Library Books in more ways than one

May is National Book Month. In response to that, this month's article will feature several books that are related to libraries, books, or booklovers.

Library History

Libraries in the Ancient World by Lionel Casson, a classicist at New York University is an overview of early libraries, as well as reading, writing, and literacy. Historians and booklovers will find this book interesting.

For a larger work on library history see The Great Libraries: From Antiquity to the Renaissance by Konstantinos Staikoes. This book includes encyclopedic coverage of library history and individual chapters on 14 European libraries.

Library Issues

Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper by Nicholson Baker is causing quite a stir among librarians and booklovers alike. Baker asserts that libraries have been misleading the public in their treatment of books.

Libraries, Access, and Intellectual Freedom: Developing Policies for Public and Academic Libraries by Barbara M. Jones, a former chair of the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee, should be on every librarian's reading list. This book covers the history of the intellectual freedom in the library and the development and implementation of an Intellectual Freedom policy.

For another work that discusses intellectual freedom try Richard S. Peck's Libraries, the First Amendment, and Cyberspace. This book discusses the interpretations of the First Amendment and the implications for libraries and schools.

Books and Booklovers

In the book How to Read and Why, Harold Bloom has been said to have been writing as if “from on reader to another.” He is indeed an incorrigible reader, who has a penchant for nocturnal reading. Sometimes he’d read 2-3 novels in one night. That’s the kind of person I’d want telling me how to read.

Adrian Johns presents an in-depth look at the history of print culture in The Nature of the Book: Print and Knowledge in the Making. Although this book is quite long, with dense prose that may not seem too inviting, it’s discussion of the changes in printing and the results to which it led is easily related to the modern issues involving electronic media.

The Future of Libraries

Future Libraries: Dreams, Madness, and Reality by Walt Crawford and Michael Gorman and Crawford’s latest, Being Analog: Creating Tomorrow’s Libraries, are looks into the future of libraries that challenges some of the popular ideas that are touted by academics. These books are tools to help practicing librarians keep the library from becoming obsolete in light of much of the new technology, but they do not hold the technology to be the solution, only a tool to reach a solution.

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