Interesting facts about libraries and librarians. Interesting facts about books. The library is in everyone's imagination

The oldest working library is located at St. Catherine's Monastery on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. It was built in the mid-6th century, also becoming the second largest collection of religious materials in the world (after the Vatican). It is closed to the general public, and only monks and invited students can borrow books from it.

The Bibliothèque Nationale de France is the oldest existing public library service. It began its work in 1368, when it was still located in the Louvre. Over the past almost 700 years, the library has moved many times to new and larger premises.

The most a big library in the world is the Library of Congress, which houses 158 million titles on approximately 828 miles of bookshelves. The library's collections include more than 36 million books and other printed materials, 3.5 million records, 13.7 million photographs, 5.5 million maps, 6.7 million sheets of music, and 69 million manuscripts.

The smallest libraries in the world have appeared on the streets of New York - they have room for just one reader. One bright yellow building houses 40 books. Their goal is to help city residents take a break from the frantic pace of life in the metropolis by giving them the opportunity to read for free good stories. The Little Free Library was designed by several innovative architects using recycled materials to protect the books from the elements.

The tallest library in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is located on the 60th floor of the JW Marriott Hotel in Shanghai (China). It is located at an altitude of 230.9 meters above the street. 103 bookshelves house an ever-expanding collection of Chinese and English books. By the way, the library area is not that big - only 57 square meters.

The very first librarian was Zenodotus from Ephesus. He was Greek literary critic, a scholar of grammar and also a commentator on Homer. He, a student of Philetus of Kos, became the first librarian of the Library of Alexandria.

The first library classification system was invented during the Han Empire. However, in North America it is believed that personal book collections came to the continent thanks to French settlers in the 16th century.

The first mobile library, according to the British monthly The British Workman, appeared in 1857. At this time she traveled around a circle of eight villages in Cumbria. Victorian merchant and philanthropist, George Moore, created the project with the aim of "spreading good literature among the rural people." The Warrington Traveling Library, established in 1858, was another early British traveling library.

The Bible is most likely stolen, followed by the Guinness Book of Records.

The first floating library appeared in 1959. To “launch” this project, it was necessary to use a number of ships. The custom-made special vessel entered service in 1963. Its length is 24 meters. Today the ship is used for summer tourist cruises.

In public libraries in medieval Europe, books were chained to the shelves. Such chains were long enough to remove a book from the shelf and read, but did not allow the book to be taken out of the library. This practice was widespread until the 18th century, due to the great value of each copy of the book.

The worst debtor was apparently a reader of one of the libraries in the Finnish city of Vantaa. A book handed out over 100 years ago was quietly returned there. According to the library worker, they were never able to find out who brought the book to the library. However, judging by the notes on the inside cover, the book was last officially issued at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The largest library in the world is the Library of Congress, located in Washington. The library contains 33.5 million printed publications, including 14.5 million books, 130 thousand newspapers, 29 million items of handwritten material, as well as many unique materials.

A bibliocleptomaniac is a person who steals books. One of the most famous bibliocleptomaniacs is Steven Bloomberg, who stole more than 23,000 rare books from 268 libraries. To build his collection, estimated at about $20 million, Bloomberg used a variety of methods: sometimes he sneaked into the library through the ventilation system and even the elevator shaft!

The Russian State Library contains about 42 million items. They are located on an area equal to 9 football fields.

The most mysterious library in history is the legendary library of Ivan the Terrible, a collection of books and documents whose last owner was supposedly Ivan IV. According to one version, it was hidden by the Tsar somewhere in Moscow. The search for the library has been going on for several centuries, but it has not yet been found. There is an assumption that the library is walled up in the Kremlin dungeons.

In no library in the United States will you find Agatha Christie’s book “Ten Little Indians” (1939), which she herself considered her own. best work. In America this book is not published under its original title. There the novel is called “And There Were No One” - after the last phrase from the famous rhyme: “The last little black man looked tired, He went, hanged himself, and there was no one.” However, there are no Indians in the text. They were first replaced by little Indians, and then by little sailors.

Louis XIV ordered his son to be released to raise educational library Greek and Roman classics, cleared of obscenities and accompanied by commentaries on difficult passages. The collection of 64 volumes was completed 28 years after the start of work, when the son himself had long ago had children.

We have long been accustomed to libraries. From the first school days we hear this word. "Read this story for your next lesson. You can find the book in the library." This is how our acquaintance with the wonderful world of libraries begins. For some of us, this place is a source of information, a repository of books. For others, the library reading rooms become a place where they can come and work, hide from the hustle and bustle and feel the warmth and comfort. And sometimes we just go there to pass the time and leaf through the pages of magazines and books.
What do we know about libraries?

What does the word "library" mean?
Library (Greek: “place of storage of books”) is an institution in which collected works of printing and writing are stored for public use, and reference and bibliographic work is also carried out there. Libraries are an integral part of the country and nation; they reflect the human need for the accumulation and enhancement of knowledge, cultural and intellectual development.

What kinds of libraries are there?
Currently there are different types libraries: national, regional, public, special, as well as “educational” (university, institute and school).

When did the first libraries appear?
The first libraries appeared in the Ancient East. The most famous ancient Eastern library is the Library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh: It contains a collection of cuneiform tablets from the palace of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. One of the most famous ancient libraries is the Library of Alexandria: founded at the beginning of the 3rd century BC, it was a center of education and science in the Hellenistic world. Its funds included about 750,000 scrolls. More than one and a half thousand years ago it was destroyed: there are many versions as to how this happened. The most popular one is that the library was burned during the capture of Alexandria by the Ottoman Turks. IN beginning of XXI century, the unique book depository, which became a legend, was restored through the efforts of a number of countries. Now it is the main library of Egypt, a cultural center located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in the city of Alexandria. The library is both a memorial to the Library of Alexandria, lost to antiquity, and a modern center of science and education.

In the Middle Ages, monasteries had libraries with scriptoria (workshops for copying manuscripts). With the invention of printing by Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century, the number of libraries began to increase, and in modern times, with the spread of literacy, the number of library visitors also increased.


What is the largest library in the world?
One of the largest libraries in the history of mankind is Library of Congress in Washington. The library has more than 75 million titles, including photographs, recordings, musical compositions. The library opened in 1800 with a total value of books of $5,000.

Tallest library- a space library on board the Mir orbital complex, which contains more than a hundred books - from the works of K. E. Tsiolkovsky to the novels of I. Ilf and E. Petrov.

Did you know that...
one of oldest printed books, which have survived to this day, after restoration, are on public display in the British Library in London. The so-called Diamond Sutra, containing the sacred Buddhist text, was created in May 868 by a certain Wong Zei.
Abdul Qassim Ismail - the great vizier of Persia (10th century) was always near his library. If he went somewhere, the library “followed” him. 117 thousand book volumes were transported by four hundred camels. Moreover, the books (i.e. camels) were arranged in alphabetical order.

What is a repository of knowledge if not a library? There are very, very many of them in the world, because people began to transfer bodies of knowledge into electronic repositories relatively recently, and the first libraries appeared on Earth thousands of years ago. And, probably, they will never lose their significance, because nothing compares to the special atmosphere of a book depository.

Facts about libraries around the world

• The oldest library ever found by archaeologists was created by the Sumerians about 4,500 years ago. It contained many clay tablets with notes, since books had not yet been invented ().
• In medieval libraries, because of their value, books were chained with massive chains so that they could not be taken with them.
• Modern libraries contain about 130 million different books. This refers to 130 million works (editions), not copies. There are many orders of magnitude more copies.
• The Persian vizier Abdul Qassim Ismail, who lived about 1,000 years ago, became famous for always taking his personal library with him wherever he went. This is a very interesting fact, considering that his library included about 117,000 books, and was carried by a caravan of 400 camels, loaded with books sorted in alphabetical order.
• The most famous is the Library of Alexandria, located in Ancient Egypt. Such great minds as Aristotle and Euclid studied there. Unfortunately, it was destroyed (). It contained approximately 200,000 scrolls and 700,000 records.
• The largest library in the world is the American Library of Congress, which houses about 155 million books. About 1.7 million people visit it annually.
• Russian state libraries Moscow and St. Petersburg rank 5th and 6th in the world in terms of the number of books, respectively.
• There are more public libraries in the United States than McDonald's.
• The famous bibliocleptomaniac Steve Bloomberg had a penchant for stealing books. In total, during his “career” he stole more than 23,000 books from 268 libraries different countries, causing $20 million in damage.
• In the aforementioned ancient Egyptian Alexandria, all ships entering its port paid tax in books. The book was sent to the library, where it was copied and a copy was given to the owner, and the original was taken as tax.
• The library of Ivan the Terrible has not yet been found. Some are still looking for her.
• In about 150 libraries around the world, instead of books, a storyteller comes and reads the book aloud to the visitor.
• In Norway, when any book is published, the government pays for a circulation of 1,000 copies, which are then sent to the country's libraries ().
• The digitized books of the entire Library of Congress, the largest in the world, occupy only about 15 terabytes.
• American industrial magnate Andrew Carnegie built and equipped 2,509 libraries at his own expense at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Of these, just over 1,600 are in the United States.

• The only library in the world located on the territory of two countries at once is Haskell. It stands right on the border of the USA and Canada.
• In Ireland and Great Britain, an author who wants his book to be placed in a library must pay for it ().
• Yale University, Beineck, has a library without a single window. They are not needed there, because the walls of the building are made of translucent marble.
• Once upon a time, someone threw a book taken from it about 100 years ago into the public library of the Finnish city of Vantaa. It was not possible to identify the person who returned her.
• In Norway, you can return a book to any public library, not necessarily the one from which you took it.
• The oldest active library in the world is located in Egypt, in the monastery of St. Catherine. It was built about 1500 years ago.
• Founded almost 700 years ago, the National Library of France was first located in the Louvre, the residence of the French kings, but since then it has moved many times without stopping its work ().
• New York has free street libraries, the smallest in the world, designed for just one visitor. They look like yellow glasses and hold about 40 books. They were installed so that the townspeople could take a break from the frantic pace of life and get away for a while.
• The highest library in the world is located in Shanghai, at the Marriott Hotel, at an altitude of about 230 meters.
• The system for classifying books in a library was invented in Ancient China.
• Once upon a time, in libraries, all books were placed with the spines inward, not outward. Why - no one knows.
• The oldest known librarian is a Greek literary critic named Zenodotus, who served in the Library of Alexandria.
• The largest digital library in the world is the World Digital Library, a project of the Library of Congress.
• The International Space Station has its own library. It stores about a hundred books ().
• The Kansas Public Library looks like a giant bookshelf from the outside.
• In the Italian city of Perugia there is a library named after Sandro Penna, the building of which looks like a flying saucer.
• In Singapore public library Bishan reading rooms are carefully soundproofed so that visitors do not disturb each other.
• IN German city Magdeburg has an unusual public library built from old beer crates.

(estimates: 2 , average: 3,00 out of 5)

1. The oldest working library is located in the Monastery of St. Catherine on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. It was built in the mid-6th century, also becoming the second largest collection of religious materials in the world (after the Vatican). It is closed to the general public, and only monks and invited students can borrow books from it.

The Bibliothèque Nationale de France is the oldest existing public library service. It began its work in 1368, when it was still located in the Louvre. Over the past almost 700 years, the library has moved many times to new and larger premises.

2. The largest library in the world is the Library of Congress, which houses 158 million titles on approximately 828 miles of bookshelves (1 mile = 1.6 km - approx.Lifebooks). The library's collections include more than 36 million books and other printed materials, 3.5 million records, 13.7 million photographs, 5.5 million maps, 6.7 million sheets of music, and 69 million manuscripts.

3. The smallest libraries in the world appeared on the streets of New York - they have room for just one reader. One bright yellow building houses 40 books. Their goal is to help city residents take a break from the frantic pace of life in the metropolis by giving them the opportunity to read good stories for free. The Little Free Library was designed by several innovative architects using recycled materials to protect the books from the elements.

4. The tallest library in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is located on the 60th floor of the JW Marriott Hotel in Shanghai (China). It is located at an altitude of 230.9 meters above the street. The 103 bookshelves house an ever-expanding collection of Chinese and English books. By the way, the library area is not that big - only 57 square meters.

5. The very first librarian was Zenodotus from Ephesus. He was a Greek literary critic, grammarian, and commentator on Homer. He, a student of Philetus of Kos, became the first librarian of the Library of Alexandria.

6. The first library classification system was invented during the Han Empire. However, in North America it is believed that personal book collections came to the continent thanks to French settlers in the 16th century.

7. The first mobile library, according to the British monthly The British Workman, appeared in 1857. At this time she traveled around a circle of eight villages in Cumbria. Victorian merchant and philanthropist, George Moore, created the project with the aim of "spreading good literature among the rural people." The Warrington Traveling Library, established in 1858, was another early British traveling library.

8. The Bible is most likely stolen, followed by the Guinness Book of Records.

9. The first floating library appeared in 1959. To “launch” this project, it was necessary to use a number of ships. The custom-made special vessel entered service in 1963. Its length is 24 meters. Today the ship is used for summer tourist cruises.

Based on materials from libraryoutsourcing.com

*The Library of Congress in Washington is by far the largest in the world. It contains about 75 million different items, including audio and video recordings, photographs.
* If we divide all the books stored in the Moscow “public” library among all employees, we get 29,830 copies per person.
*Library workers issue approximately 400 bibliographic references per day.
*The most mysterious library in the world is still the collection of documents and books of Ivan the Terrible. Historians believe that it was hidden or transported to another place by Ivan IV himself. For several centuries, scientists and archaeologists from all over the world have been trying to find a priceless artifact. According to one version, the library is hidden within the walls of the Moscow Kremlin.

* Bibliocleptomania is not just a difficult word to pronounce, it is a real disease, which is characterized by an immense love for books and the desire to appropriate library copies for oneself. One of the most famous representatives suffering from this disease is Stephen Bloomberg, who stole more than 23,000 rare books from 268 libraries in different parts To build his collection, estimated at about $20 million, Bloomberg used a variety of methods, sometimes sneaking into the library through the ventilation system and elevator shaft.
*Abdul Kassim Ismail- the great vizier of Persia (10th century) was always near his library. If he went somewhere, the library “followed” him. 117 thousand book volumes were transported by four hundred camels. Moreover, the books (i.e. camels) were arranged in alphabetical order.
* In public In the libraries of medieval Europe, books were chained to the shelves.Such chains were long enough to remove a book from the shelf and read, but did not allow the book to be taken out of the library.This practice was common until the 18th century, which was due to the great value of each copy of the book.
* To one of the libraries in the Finnish city of Vantaaquietly returned a book that was issued over 100 years ago.According to the library worker, they were never able to find out who brought the book to the library. However, judging by the notes on the inside cover, the book was last officially issued in the beginning of the twentieth century.