History of Libraries in the Western World -syllabus - Kent State University Taught by Miriam Kahn

History of Libraries in the Western World LIS 61095 (Kent State University) Summer 2008
session 1	session 2		session 3	session 4		session 5
session 6	session 7		session 8	session 9		session 10

Session 1 Ancient World to 400 CE - Introduction to the History of Libraries The library and its place within society and history
Session 2 Medieval Libraries (Guest Speaker on Chained Libraries) Readings Harris, Michael H. History of Libraries in the Western World. 4^th edition Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1995 Chapters 1-5 Blackburn, Robert H. “The Ancient Alexandrian Library: Part of It May Survive!” Library History 19 No. 1 (March 2003): 23-34. Hunt, R.W. “The Library of the Abbey of St. Albans.” In Medieval Scribes, Manuscripts & Libraries; Essays Presented to N.R. Ker. Edited by MB. Parkes and Andrew G. Watson. London: Scholar Press, 1978, 251-277. Casson, Lionel. Libraries in the Ancient World. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001 (read and report on assigned chapter) Optional Reading: Gamble, Harry Y. “Early Christian Libraries.” Ch. 4 in Books and Readers in the Early Church: A History of Early Christian Texts. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995 p 144-202.
Session 3 Late Middle Ages to Renaissance Paper Topic descriptions due Readings Harris, Michael H. History of Libraries in the Western World. 4^th edition Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1995 Chapter 6-8 Rukanci, Fatih and Hakan Anameric. “Libraries as Scientific, Educational and Cultural Institutions in the Ottoman Empire (XIVth –XVIIth Centuries) Libri 56 No. 4 (Dec 2006): 252-263. Clark, J.W. Libraries in the Medieval and Renaissance Periods. Rede Lecture June 13, 1894 (Chicago: Argonaut Inc. Publishers, 1968).
Session 4 Europe 17^th & 18^th Centuries Readings Harris, Michael H. History of Libraries in the Western World. 4^th edition Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1995 Chapter 9 Manley, K.A. “Scottish Circulating and Subscription Libraries as Community Libraries.” Library History 19 No. 3 (Nov 2003): 185-194. Kaltwasser, Franz Georg. “The Common Roots of Library and Museum in the Sixteenth Century: The Example of Munich.” Library History 20 No. 3 (Nov 2004): 163-181. Roberts, Daphne and Bob Duckett. “The Bradford Library and Literary Society, 1774-1980.” Library History 22 No. 3 (Nov 2006): 213-226.
Session 5 Modern Libraries in Europe 1800-2000 Readings Harris, Michael H. History of Libraries in the Western World. 4^th edition Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1995 Chapter 11 A.S. Popowich, “Carlyle, Panizzi, and the Public Library Ideal,” Library Student Journal (Feb 2007) http://informatics.buffalo.edu/org/lsj/articles/popowich_2007_2_carlyle.php Koch, Theodore W. “The Bibiotheque Nationale: Organization and History.” Library Journal 39 (May 1914): 339-350. Sturges, Paul. “Great City Libraries of Britain: Their History from a European Perspective.” Library History 19 No. 2 (July 2003): 93-111 Optional Readings: Oliver, Bette Wyn. “The Bibliotheque Nationale from 1792-1794: Becoming a National Institution during the French Revolution.” Libraries & the Cultural Record 42 No. 1 (April 2007) 48-56 [available through Kentlink] Reid, Peter H. “The Decline and Fall of the British Country House Library.” Libraries & Culture 36 No. 2 (Spring 2001): 345-366.[available through Kentlink] Buckridge, Patrick. “Generations of Books: A Tasmanian Family Library, 1816-1994” Library Quarterly 76 No. 4 (Oct 2006): 388-402.
Session 6 New World – American & Canadian Libraries 1600-1800 Readings Harris, Michael H. History of Libraries in the Western World. 4^th edition Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1995 Chapter 10 Shera, Jesse H. “The Beginnings of the Public Library,” Chapter 6 in Foundations of the Public Library: The Origins of the Public Library Movement in New England 1629-1855, (Shoestring Press, 1965): 156-199. Glynn, Tom. “The New York Society Library: Books, Authority, and Publics in Colonial and Early Republican New York.” Libraries & Culture 40 No. 4. (Fall 2005): 493-529. [available through Kentlink] Battles, Matthew. Library: An Unquiet History. NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2003. (read and report on assigned chapter) Optional Readings: William J. Van Beynum, “The Book-Company of Durham,” Library History Seminar No. 3 Proceedings, 1968, (Tallahassee, FL: School of Library Science Florida State University, 1968): 73-97.
Session 7 North American National Libraries and Specialized Libraries Readings Harris, Michael H. History of Libraries in the Western World. 4^th edition Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1995 Chapter 12 Cole, John Y. “Jefferson’s Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress” http://www.loc.gov/loc/legacy/ Lawrence W. Towner, “The Newberry Library: A Research Opportunity in Library History,” Library History Seminar No. 3 Proceedings, 1968, (Tallahassee, FL: School of Library Science Florida State University, 1968): 1-16. Bird, Jr., William L. “A Suggestion Concerning James Smithson’s Concept of ‘Increase and Diffusion’,” Technology and Culture 24 No. 4 (April 1983): 246-255. Optional Reading: Glasgow, Eric. “The Huntington Library.” Library History 20 No. 1 (March 2004): 69-74.
Session 8 Modern Libraries in America Public Libraries, Subscription Libraries, University Libraries Readings Liebaers, Herman. “The Impact of American and European Librarianship Upon Each Other.” Libraries and the Life of the Mind in America. Chicago: American Library Association, 1997, 67-83. Shera, Jesse H. “The Circulating Library,” Chapter 5 in , Foundations of the Public Library: The Origins of the Public Library Movement in New England 1629-1855, (Shoestring Press, 1965): 127-155. Hamlin, Arthur T. The University Library in the United States: Its Origin and Development. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981: 3-59. (read and report on assigned chapter) Augenbraum, Harold. “New York’s Oldest Public Libraries.” RBM 1 No. 2 (Fall 2000): 145-159 http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/rbm/backissuesvol1no/backissuesvol.cfm Optional Reading: Arenson, Adam. “Libraries in Public Before the Ages of Public Libraries; Interpreting the Furnishings and Design of Athenaeums and Other ‘Social Libraries,’ 1800-1860.” In The Library as Place: History, Community, and Culture Edited by John E. Buschman and Cloria J. Leckie. (Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2007): 41-60.
Session 9 Non-Western World Libraries (Guest Speaker on African Libraries) Readings Kim, Chin. “A New National Library: The National Diet Library of Japan.” The Journal of Library History IV No. 3 (July 1969): 225-238. Fabian, Johannes. “Curios and Curiosity: Notes on Reading Torday and Frobenius.” In The Scramble for art in Central Africa. Edited by Enid Schildkrout and Curtis A. Keim. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998): 79-108. Coleman Jr., Sterling Joseph. “The British Council and UNESCO in Ethiopia: The Comparison of Linear and Cyclical Patterns of Librarianship Development.” Library History 21 No 2 (July 2005): 121-130. Optional Reading: Liao, Jing. “The Genesis of the Modern Academic Library in China: Western Influences and the Chinese Response.” Libraries & Culture 30 No. 2 (Spring 2004): 161-174. [available through KentLink]
Session 10 Libraries in the 21^st century and beyond Final Paper Due Historical Case Studies Due Readings Jacob, Christian. “Gathering Memory: Thoughts on the History of Libraries,” Diogenes 49 No. 4 (April 2002): 41-57. If: book: The really modern library (October 2007) http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/ Pennavaria, Katherine. “Representations of Books and Libraries in Depictions of the Future.” Libraries & Culture 37 No. 2 (Summer 2002): 229-248. [available through KentLink] Barker, Nicolas “Libraries and the Mind of Man.” In A Potencie of Life: Books in Society. (New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2001): 179-194.




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LIS 61095 (Kent State University)

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