Libraries

"It's funny that we think of libraries as quiet demure places where we are shushed by dusty, bun-balancing, bespectacled women. The truth is libraries are raucous clubhouses for free speech, controversy and community. Librarians have stood up to the Patriot Act, sat down with noisy toddlers and reached out to illiterate adults. Libraries can never be shushed." 
 
- Comedian and author Paula Poundstone, national spokesperson for Friends of Libraries U.S.A.

As gateways to knowledge and culture, libraries play a fundamental role in society. The resources and services they offer create opportunities for learning, support literacy and education, and help shape the new ideas and perspectives that are central to a creative and innovative society. They also help ensure that an authentic record of knowledge created and accumulated by past generations is archived for future reference.
 
Public libraries also function to record the history of populations by documenting marriages, deaths, property ownership, court dockets and criminal records and minute from public meetings. This gallery highlights some of the major libraries in this United States that are renowned for their collections. The gallery also presents biographical information on those who had careers as librarians, on philanthropists who contributed to enhancing the role of libraries in the lives of their communities.
 
The libraries portrayed include state public libraries such as the Boston public Library and the New York Public Library. Also featured here are well-known university libraries, such as the Widener Library at Harvard University.  The Harvard Library system is the largest in the world and the Widener Library, established in 1915, is a central organ in that system.

Libraries