Library
hideA library is a collection of sources, resources, and services, and the structure in which it is housed: it is organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution, or a private individual. In the more traditional sense, a library is a collection of books. The term can mean the collection, the building that houses such a collection, or both.
Public and institutional collections and services may be intended for use by people who choose not to — or cannot afford to — purchase an extensive collection themselves, who need material no individual can reasonably be expected to have, or who require professional assistance with their research.
However, with the sets and collection of media and of media other than books for storing information, many libraries are now also repositories and access points for maps, prints, or other documents and various storage media such as microform (microfilm/microfiche), audio tapes, CDs, cassettes, videotapes, and DVDs. Libraries may also provide public facilities to access subscription databases and the Internet.
Thus, modern libraries are increasingly being redefined as places to get unrestricted access to information in many formats and from many sources. In addition to providing materials, they also provide the services of specialists, librarians, who are experts at finding and organizing information and at interpreting information needs.
More recently, libraries are understood as extending beyond the physical walls of a building, by including material accessible by electronic means, and by providing the assistance of librarians in navigating and analyzing tremendous amounts of knowledge with a variety of digital tools.
The term "library" has itself acquired a secondary meaning: "a collection of useful material for common use," and in this sense is used in fields such as computer science, mathematics and statistics, electronics and biology.
For more information about Library, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with libraries
Humanity's earliest written works go online
Apr 21, 2009 |
5 / 5 (7) |
1
(AP) -- National libraries and the U.N. education agency put some of humanity's earliest written works online Tuesday, from ancient Chinese oracle bones to the first European map of the New World.
Taming the vast -- and growing -- digital data-sphere
Technology / Computer Sciences
Sep 22, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (3) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- European researchers are making an impressive effort to link up digital repositories to create a vast network of easy to search online data. The DRIVER project work - one of the largest efforts of its kind ...
New Shakespeare Archive launched
Nov 17, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (3) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Shakespeare Quartos Archive has been officially launched today with a complete digital collection of rare early editions of Hamlet.
P[acman]-generated fruit fly gene 'library': A new research tool
May 24, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
(May 24, 2009) -- Using a specially adapted tool called P[acman], a collaboration of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine has established a library of clones that cover most of the genome of Drosophila melanogaster (fruit ...
Major universities see promise in Google Book Search settlement
Oct 28, 2008 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Stanford University, the University of California and University of Michigan announce today their joint support for the outstanding public benefits made possible through the proposed settlement agreement submitted to the United States District Court, S ...
World Digital Library to launch at UNESCO
Apr 20, 2009 |
3 / 5 (3) |
0
The World Digital Library, a website offering free access to rare books, maps, manuscripts, films and photographs from across the globe, launches Tuesday at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
Judge extends deadline to debate Google book deal
Sep 03, 2009 |
4 / 5 (2) |
0
(AP) -- The final assault on a class-action settlement that would expand Google Inc.'s already vast digital library has been delayed until next week.
Opening the door to Europe's archives
Technology / Computer Sciences
Nov 21, 2008 |
4 / 5 (2) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Historical archives can be difficult to search, especially when relevant documents are held by institutions in different countries. A European project has shown how a single online portal with a simple graphical ...
Univ. of Michigan, Google amend book scanning deal
May 21, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
(AP) -- The University of Michigan has amended a deal with Google Inc. to create digital copies of millions of library books and journals.
Protein is key to embryonic stem cell differentiation
Mar 18, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have learned that a protein called Shp2 plays a critical role in the pathways that control decisions for differentiation or self-renewal in both human embryonic ...
Telling an old book by its smell: Aroma hints at ways of preserving treasured documents
Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry
Nov 10, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
Scientists may not be able to tell a good book by its cover, but they now can tell the condition of an old book by its odor. In a report published in the American Chemical Society's Analytical Chemistry they d ...
Probing Question: How is the computer age changing libraries?
May 21, 2009 |
3 / 5 (1) |
2
For those of us of a certain age — no need to put a number on it, thank you -- the word "library" still conjures forth memories of solid wood cabinets filled with hand-typed cards, each pointing to a book ...
