4 ms·

Especially apt considering the first libraries were corporations. Non-profit corporations, that is. But people forget that "public library" is a 20th century ne

• pbhjpbhj 12y ago
  The first libraries such as? The libraries at Pergamum and Alexandria were, AFAIK, state run affairs basically sponsored by the rulers at the time. Scholars from far-and-wide were invited and given a wage and services so that they could focus on scholastics. The rulers donated the [cost of] books initially but also it seems taxed all ships entering Alexandria; books being retained and copies produced and returned to the original owners. Alexandria was apparently public access, eg http://unllib.unl.edu/LPP/phillips.htm http://unllib.unl.edu/LPP/phillips.htm. It seems pretty close to the modern conception of a public library to me - paid for by the state, directed towards scholarship, open to the public, run for non-fiscal profits. A corporation to me says 'a closed group seeking it's own ends', whilst these state sponsored institutions were probably primarily for the purposes of the rulers I'm not sure equating that to corporations is helpful. As part of the Mouseion it seems the library at Alexandria was much closer to a public work than a private enterprise. I'm not a historian, just someone who's read a few articles on this particular [first?] early library (there's some good AskHistorian threads on it).