Private library

From Freepedia

A private library is a library that is only for the use of a small amount of people or one person. As with public libraries, some people use stamps, stickers or embossers to show ownership of the items. Some people have sold or willed their private libraries to established institutions such as the Library of Congress.

Many private libraries are specialized and exist for use by employees in a certain business, such as a law firm, hospital or research laboratory. Some private libraries, besides collecting books, manuscripts, sheet music, etc., also collect the same in digital format. Others may include non-traditional library materials such as artwork, artifacts and preserved plant and animal specimens.

The first libraries were all private, usually restricted to nobility, aristocracy, scholars or theologians. Most of the surviving texts of the ancient world come from private libraries as public libraries were subject to destruction during war.

Ancient world

Many ancient cultures collected works of philosophy, theology and sometimes finance. Most notable are the libraries in Rome, the Middle East and China.

Middle East

The Middle East is home to the oldest library collections. Ancient Mesopotamia housed a building with about 30,000 clay tablets that date back more than 5,000 years. The ancient Egyptian cities of Amarna and Thebes had collections of papyrus scrolls from 1300-1200 BCE. In Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, the palace of King Sennacheriband (704-681 BCE) housed thousands of clay tablets.

Rome

Nearly every house of nobility had a library and virtually every one was split into two rooms: one for Latin texts and one for Greek texts. Rome may very will have been the birth place of specialized libraries, with evidence of early medical and legal libraries.

In the 5th century BCE, on the island of Cos outside the city of Pergamum, a medical school complex with a library was built in the sanctuary of Asclepius. This is the first medical school known to have existed, and subsequently it could be credited with the first specialized library.

Renaissance Europe

The Golden Age brought with it a renewed interest in conserving the new ideas being put forth by the great thinkers of the day. The Kings of each European country created impressive libraries some of which have become the national libraries of today.

The national library of France in Paris (Bibliotheque Nationale de France) was started in 1367 as the Royal Library of King Charles V. In Florence, Italy, Cosimo de Medici had a private library which formed the basis of the Laurentian Library. The Vatican library was also started in the 1400's.

The creation and expansion of universities prompted the gifting of private libraries to university libraries. One notable donation was by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester to Oxford University in the early 1400s.

Modern era

Nearly every law firm and hospital has a private library for use by its employees. Many hospitals also have a private library for patients and families, some going so far as to restrict a children's library to patients only, in hopes of minimizing the transmission of disease to the fragile patients.

Many large corporations also have a library that cover the distinct industry of said company. Scientific establishments are especially apt to have a library to support the scientists. Manufacturing facilities are also likely to have an engineering library to help with troubleshooting and the assembly of complicated parts.

Famous private libraries

• The Queen of England's library in Windsor castle
• Tianyi Pavilion – The oldest private library in Asia; located in Zhejiang, China