International and Comparative Librarianship History Revisited : First Facts About Libraries

This collection is inspired by many sites that have Interesting Facts About Libraries (sadly, many facts don't have an authentic source). 

Here are just a few “secrets” or little-known first facts about libraries, with a source:

1.  Bookboat: The first floating library service began in 1959. "Epos" - Norway's floating library, by Anne Marie Oevstegaard. [source]
2. The World's Oldest Library. Hans H. Wellisch. "Almost all present descriptions of ancient libraries consider the Library of Ashurbanipal, dating from the 7thc BC and discovered around 1850" [source] [see also:  Library of King Ashurbanipal Web Page]
3. The world's biggest library is The Library of Congress [source]
4. The smallest library in the world has appeared on the streets of New York City, it has space for just one reader at a time. - Recommendation : Read a short book (under 150 pages) or a book with a yellow cover [source]
5. The Harvard University library houses a collection of books bound in human skin. [source]
6. The latest news maker: A Shikara ride to the library: Innovative cafe near Dal lake is book lovers' paradise in J&K offering rare books of Kashmiri history  [source]
7. One of the world's biggest books claimed headlines about Bhutan [source]
8. The highest library in the World at 230.9 m (757 ft 6 in), at the JW Marriott in Shanghai - China [source]
9. The Filipino librarian has the distinction of being the first librarian in the world to be professionalized through the legislative process. [source]
10.  The first Bookmobile (mobile library) - The British Workman  reported in 1857  a perambulating library operating in a circle of eight villages in Cumbria. [source]
11. The world´s most overdue library book: The Oregonian: Borrower returns books 52 years late to Portland State University's library, with unsigned note [source]
12. The Most Stolen Books From Libraries : The Guinness Book of Records tops the list.[source]
13. There are more public libraries than McDonald's in the U.S.- a total of 16,604 including branches [source]
14. The Firstthe nation's first lending library in the United States : Though the Library of Congress was the first official post-revolutionary library, it was not the first governmental library in the United States. The history of the first governmental library stretches back to 1731, when Benjamin Franklin and several of his friends in the Junto society founded The Library Company as a non-profit.[source]
15. The first library catalog : ... the Seven Epitomes, the first library catalog to establish the bibliographic model in imperial China. [source]
16. The first comprehensive Arabic national bibliography was compiled by Ibn al-Nadim, ' Kitab al fihrist' [source]
17. 1 in 3 public libraries across the U.S.A. have Facebook accounts [source]
18. The first library classification system, eisted during the Han Dynasty, and the first book notation system as well. [source]
19. U.S. public libraries were some of the first institutions to be racially integrated because whites generally didn’t want to put up much of a fight about them. Some were even ashamed at the time to learn that libraries were segregated. [Source]
20. Authors get paid every time UK or Irish libraries lend their books. [Source]

Read more: Wayne A. Wiegand & Donald G. Jr. Davis, ed.  Encyclopedia of Library History (Garland Reference Library of Social Science)
 

The “Golden Age” of Librarianship? Changes in the Information Profession from 1947-2014

Extract:
As a history enthusiast, I really enjoyed learning about the evolution of the library profession in my 9005 Management course and how the profession has changed over the past century. We watched this really interesting vocational video about librarianship from 1947, which gives a good insight about the roles and responsibilities of librarians in the immediate post-WWII era, what kinds of educational requirements are needed, and job prospects for aspiring librarians in the mid-20th century.
In some ways, not much has changed in the past half century in the library profession. In 1947, the educational requirements were a university degree and attend a specialised library school, while in 2014, the same is true except the requirement is now a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science (MLIS/MIS/MLS). That is not surprising in that educational requirements for many jobs have increased to at least have a basic college or university degree, but the specialised degree in library school is still the minimum requirement to be a librarian then and now. Another thing that remains true in the field of librarianship are the soft skills required to excel in the profession. While the demand for hard skills may change as technology advances, the human side of the profession remains unchanged as librarians need to have excellent interpersonal skills and must deliver exceptional reference services to patrons. Having a love for books/information and people is as relevant in the 21st century as it was in the 1940s, even if librarians now use electronic databases and digital resources. Continue reading