Libraries as Agencies of Culture

by Thomas Augst (Editor), Wayne A. Wiegand (Editor)

Libraries—public, school, and academic libraries—are ubiquitous cultural agencies. Yet how much do we know about the multiple ways that they serve and enrich our culture? These essays explore the role of the library in the life of the reader and the library as a place in the life of its users. 

Contributors are Thomas Augst, Ari Kelman, Elizabeth Jane Aikin, Ronald J. Zboray and Mary Saracino Zboray, Christine Pawley, Juris Dilevko and Lisa Gottlieb, Jean L. Preer, Jacalyn Eddy, Benjamin Hufbauer, and Emily B. Todd.

Genres: Nonfiction

211 pages, Paperback

First published October 9, 2002

Reviews

[Tiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going through books I still had from grad school and Steven said, "You should get rid of that. You'll never read it again." Challenge accepted.

Now I can get rid of it.

But seriously, it had some great essays. Just not ones that I'll ever read again.

[Ayne Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers, drawn from the entire planet and from all our history, to instruct us without tiring, and to inspire us to make our own contribution to the collective knowledge of the human species. I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries."

~Carl Sagan, Cosmos

[Brian]

One last book before summer is over...