Libraries

~2,000 B.C.

If, as Francis Bacon famously said, "knowledge is power," then free access to knowledge spreads that power around. Libraries have been around since ancient times, most famously the Great Library of Alexandria in Egypt. Many early libraries were private collections, though some, like the one in Alexandria, offered access to those with "proper qualifications." At a time when all manuscripts had to be laboriously copied by hand, the Great Library at Alexandria held as many as 750,000 scrolls. After the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, and the associated increase in literacy, libraries flourished, though most were still not open to the public. In the United States, the idea of free public schools and free (or state-supported) public libraries were imported around the same time. There is some historical contention about where and when the first public library opened in the U.S. (based in part on different definitions of "public"), but they proliferated throughout the second half of the 19th century and into the 20th century. Today, the American Library Association estimates there are more than 117,000 libraries in the United States.

Our Thoughts?
Information is powerful, and keepers of information are powerful people. Institutions like public libraries and the Internet spread information around, distributing power and encouraging an educated population.