library.docVIP

Reading 1 1 Library and Library Science A library is a collection of printed or written material arranged and organized for the purpose of preserving them and making them easily accessible for reference and study, or for general reading. The term also applies to the room or building in which the books are kept. Many libraries also include collections of films, microfilms, phonograph records, lanternslides and tapes as well as books and periodicals. A librarian is a specialist in the care or management of a library. Libraries may be roughly classified in two ways: by ownership or use e.g. national, local public (provincial, municipal, county), university, research, school, industrial, club, private, etc; or by contents, e.g. general, special (including legal, scientific, engineering, medical, agricultural etc) Through all the centuries of its existence, the library has had three main functions: to collect, to preserve and to make available. The library, more than any other instrument of society, opens to public use the treasury embodied in books. It makes man’s talents a public possession. It assembles information from countless sources and places it at the command of millions of individual users. It serves hundreds of research institutions, and at the same time supports vastly expanded educational systems. Libraries vary in size. A big library contains millions of books with a large staff and many departments, while a small rural library has only a few books arranged in a small room. A library network ties all types of libraries and information centers together. Technological developments may ultimately enable a network user to gain access to essentially all information in libraries through computer and television terminals. The more immediate prospect for most users is access to printed material, wherever located, through the user’s normal library. A local public, college, or special library will search out the matter and have it delivered to the user through i