Social Libraries
Social libraries peaked in significance by the mid-nineteenth century, and all their many forms have been the object of intense research in North America and Europe. Davis and Tucker explain that:
"The term social library has come to signify the kind of library that generally provided a circulating collection of materials and frequently a reading room for the use of any persons meeting the established criteria, which usually involved a fee or subscription, or a payment to become a joint owner or stockholder, of the library".
These libraries were often referred to as "public libraries" during the nineteenth century, this appellation over time came to describe tax-supported, publicly administered libraries open to all regardless of class, race or age for free on an equal basis, at least in theory. It is understandable that the nomenclature of libraries is varied among patrons, employees and historians, who have had the difficult task of defining and separating the various types of libraries into manageable classifications.
Read more about this topic: Lending Library
Famous quotes containing the words social and/or libraries:
“In the old times men carried out their rights for themselves as they lived, but nowadays every baby seems born with a social manifesto in its mouth much bigger than itself.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“riding flatcars to Fresno,
Across the whole country
Steep towns, flat towns, even New York,
And oceans and Europe & libraries & galleries
And the factories they make rubbers in”
—Gary Snyder (b. 1930)