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
Telling an old book by its smell: Aroma hints at ways of preserving treasured documents
Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry
Nov 10, 2009 |
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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 ...
New Shakespeare Archive launched
Nov 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The Shakespeare Quartos Archive has been officially launched today with a complete digital collection of rare early editions of Hamlet.
Search results for libraries
2 heads better than 1 in new antibiotic method
Dec 03, 2009 |
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An antibiotic that binds to a well-established target in a novel and unexpected way could be the inspiration for designing new, more potent antibacterial drugs.
'Smell of old books' offers clues to help preserve them
Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry
Dec 02, 2009 |
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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 smell. In a report in ACS' Analytical Chemistry, a semi-monthly journal, they describe develo ...
Tech and teens
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Nov 30, 2009 |
3 / 5 (1) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Digital media use is transforming the way young people learn, UCI researcher Mizuko "Mimi" Ito has found, and schools should take note.
Modified iPhones Are Compromised By New Worm
Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets
Nov 25, 2009 |
5 / 5 (4) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Several research security firms have reported a new worm attack against jail broken iPhones, dubbed "Ikee.B or "Duh", this worm searches for personal and banking information.
Google documents Iraqi museum treasures
Nov 24, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Google is documenting Iraq's national museum and will post photographs of its ancient treasures on the Internet early next year, Google chief Eric Schmidt announced Tuesday.
PLoS Genetics 2009 maize genome collection
Nov 19, 2009 |
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Maize is an important crop in many countries of the world. It is widely used for human consumption, animal feed, and industrial materials. It also is considered an exemplar plant species for studying domestication, molecular ...
Google Go gets going (w/ Video)
Nov 11, 2009 |
4.1 / 5 (13) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Google has introduced its new experimental programming language Go, which aims to combine speedy application development through simplified coding with high-speed program execution.
NASA's Great Observatories Celebrate International Year of Astronomy
Nov 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A never-before-seen view of the turbulent heart of our Milky Way galaxy is being unveiled by NASA on Nov. 10. This event will commemorate the 400 years since Galileo first turned his telescope ...
Video fingerprinting offers search solution
Technology / Computer Sciences
Nov 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The explosive growth of video on the internet calls for new ways of sorting and searching audiovisual content. A team of European researchers has developed a groundbreaking solution that is ...
Google's desire to scan old books has critics casting it as Goliath
Nov 06, 2009 |
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Google's ambitious plan to scan millions of old, out-of-print books, many of them forgotten in musty university libraries, has turned into one of the biggest controversies in the young company's history.
List of search results for libraries
