Universal library

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A universal library is a library which contains all existing or useful information or knowledge. This ideal, although unrealizable, has influenced and continues to influence librarians and others.

1 History
2 The universal library in fiction
3 Modern times
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

The Library of Alexandria is generally regarded as the first library approaching universality, although this idea may be more mythical than real.^[1] It is estimated that at one time, this library contained between 30 and 70 percent of all books in existence.^[2]

As a phrase, the 'universal library' can be traced back to the naturalist Conrad Gessner's Bibliotheca universalis of 1545.

In the 17th century, the ideal of universality continued to be attractive. The French librarian Gabriel Naudé wrote:

And therefore I shall ever think it extreamly necessary, to collect for this purpose all sorts of books, (under such precautions, yet, as I shall establish) seeing a Library which is erected for the public benefit, ought to be universal; but which it can never be, unlesse it comprehend all the principal authors, that have written upon the great diversity of particular subjects, and chiefly upon all the arts and sciences; [...] For certainly there is nothing which renders a Library more recommendable, then when every man findes in it that which he is in search of ... ^[3]^[4]

[edit] The universal library in fiction

Science fiction has used the device of a library which is universal in the sense that it not only contains all existing written works, but all possible written works. This idea appeared in Kurd Laßwitz's 1901 story "The Universal Library" and Borges's essay "The Total Library" before its more famous expression in Borges's story "The Library of Babel". Such a library, however, would be as useless as it would be complete. It is a pessimistic opinion that the Internet already approaches this state.^[5]

[edit] Modern times

With the advent of cheap, widely available digital storage, the ideal of universality, although still impossible to attain, has become closer to the feasible. Many projects are now attempting to collect a section of human knowledge into one database. These projects vary in breadth and scope, and none are complete. Examples include digitization projects such as Project Gutenberg and Carnegie-Mellon's Universal Library^[6], digital libraries which are using book scanning to collect public domain works; The European Library, an integrated catalog for Europe's national libraries; and the Wikimedia Foundation, which, using the Wiki system, is attempting to collect the breadth of important human knowledge under various open content projects such as Wikipedia and Wiktionary. However, many technical and legal problems remain for the dissemination of all possible knowledge on the Internet.^[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Abstract, The Alexandrian library and its aftermath, Uwe Jochum, presented at the Second Anglo-German seminar on library history, The universal library: from Alexandria to the internet, London, September 1996.
^ ^a ^b Scan This Book!, New York Times Magazine, May 14, 2006.
^ Advis pour dresser une bibliotheque, Paris, 1627, translated by John Evelyn as Instructions concerning erecting of a library, London, 1661, pp. 19–20.
^ Abstract, C. G. Heyne and the university library at Göttingen: from 'Universalbibliothek' of the eighteenth century to the 'Sammlung Deutscher Drucke', 1701-1800, Graham Jefcoate and Gerd J. Boette, presented at the Second Anglo-German seminar on library history, The universal library: from Alexandria to the internet, London, September 1996.
^ The Internet and the revival of the myth of the universal library, Miroslav Kruk, Australian Library Journal 48, #2 (May 1999); abriged version available online.
^ Universal Library website