Libraries & Culture articles from March 2002

Libraries & Culture archives from March 2002

"The Great Fiction Bore": free libraries and the construction of a reading public in England, 1880-1914.
March 22, 2002... The Public Libraries Act (England and Wales) was passed in 1850 at a time when democracy was being hotly debated but only one person in forty was eligible to vote, and compulsory elementary education for all was still twenty years in the...

Books for the use of the United States in Congress assembled, 1783 and 1800.
March 22, 2002... This essay compares a catalog that James Madison proposed to the Continental Congress in 1783 as the foundation for a congressional library with the list of books that were actually purchased in 1800 for the original Library of Congress. While...

The Cairo Genizah: a medieval Mediterranean deposit and a modern Cambridge archive.
March 22, 2002... For almost two thousand years, it has been customary in Rabbinic Judaism to set aside a depository (genizah) into which could be consigned Hebrew texts that had to be removed from circulation. The famous Cairo Genizah was amassed mainly between...

Passing the torch: Haynes McMullen's American Library History Database and American Libraries Before 1876.
March 22, 2002... American Libraries Before 1876 by Haynes McMullen. Westport, Conn., and London: Greenwood Press, 2000. xiv, 179 pp. $62.50. ISBN 0-313-31277-X. After forty years of historical research and data collecting, Haynes McMullen unveils the first...

The Literature of American Library History, 1999-2000.
March 22, 2002... Libraries, where one takes on the smell of books, stale and attractive. Service with no motive, simple as the U.S. Mail. Fountains and palms, armchairs for smokers. Incredible library where ideas run for safety, place of rebirth of forgotten...

The cover.
March 22, 2002... The celebration of the Navy Department Library's two hundred-year anniversary revitalized an important symbol, its bookplate, and provided an opportunity to investigate the library's history, promote its valuable collections, and deliver...

Scientific Communication in History. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 2002... Scientific Communication in History. By Bryan C. Vickery. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2000. xxii, 255 pp. $55.00. ISBN 0-8108-3598-3. This modest little volume offers the reader a cohesive, beautifully crafted account of scientific...

Libraries in the Ancient World. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 2002... Libraries in the Ancient World. By Lionel Casson. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2001. xii, 169 pp. $22.95 (paper). ISBN 0-300-08809-4. Libraries in the Ancient World is the most recent rendering of the history of libraries from...

Encyclopedia of Monasticism, vols. 1 and 2. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 2002... Encyclopedia of Monasticism, vols. 1 and 2. Edited by William M. Johnston; photo editor, Claire Renkin. Chicago and London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2000. Vol. 1: xxxiv, 797 pp. Vol. 2: xii, 757 pp. $295.00. ISBN 1-57958-090-4. Most...

Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 2002... Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World. Edited by Barbara Newman. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. ix, 278 pp. $19.95 (paper). ISBN 0-520-21758-6. The amazing Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) cannot be...

Literacy and Written Culture in Early Modern Central Europe. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 2002... Literacy and Written Culture in Early Modern Central Europe. By Istvan Gyorgy Toth. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2000. xi, 266 pp. $41.95. ISBN 963- 9116-85-8. The author is an historian at the Central European University...

The Public Library in Britain: 1914-2000. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 2002... The Public Library in Britain 1914-2000. By Alistair Black. London: British Library, 2000. xii, 180 pp. [pounds sterling]30.00. ISBN 0-7123-4685-6. In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the first British Public Libraries Act receiving...

Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility in American Librarianship, 1967-1974. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 2002... Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility in American Librarianship, 1967-1974. By Toni Samek. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2001. xviii, l79 pp. $35.00. ISBN 0-7864-09616-9 (paper). This review is framed between two events that occurred...

Gendering Library History. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 2002... Gendering Library History. Edited by Evelyn Kerslake and Nickianne Moody. Liverpool: Media Critical and Creative Arts, Liverpool John Moores University and the Association for Research in Popular Fictions, 2000.241 pp. [pounds sterling]32.17,...

An American Bible: A History of the Good Book in the United States, 1777-1880. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 2002... An American Bible: A History of the Good Book in the United States, 1777-1880. By Paul C. Gutjahr. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1999. xv, 256 pp. $39.50. ISBN 0-8047-3425-9. Seldom does one encounter such a fascinating book...

A Handbook for the Study of Book History in the United States. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 2002... A Handbook for the Study of Book History in the United States. By Ronald J. Zboray and Mary Saracino Zboray. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, and New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Press, 2000. ix, 155 pp. $15.00. ISBN 0-8444-1015-2. The...

The Human Face of the Book Trade: Print Culture and Its Creators & Reciprocal Influences: Literary Production, Distribution, and Consumption in America. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 2002... The Human Face of the Book Trade: Print Culture and Its Creators. Edited by Peter Isaac and Barry McKay. Winchester: St. Paul's Bibliographies, and New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Press, 1999. x, 228 pp. $39.95. ISBN 1-873040-54-7 (U.K.);...

Academic Library Centrality: User Success Through Service, Access, and Tradition and The Reference Encounter: Interpersonal Communication in the Library. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 2002... Academic Library Centrality: User Success Through Service, Access, and Tradition. By Deborah J. Grimes. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 1998. 154 pp. $30.00. ISBN: 000-8389-7950-5. The Reference Encounter:...

Architectural Books in Early America: Architectural Treatises and Building Handbooks Available in American Libraries and Bookstores Through 1800. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 2002... Architectural Books in Early America: Architectural Treatises and Building Handbooks Available in American Libraries and Bookstores through 1800. By Janice G. Schimmelman. New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Press, 1999. ix, 221 pp. $40.00. ISBN...

Civic Librarianship: Renewing the Social Mission of the Public Library. (Book Reviews).
March 22, 2002... Civic Librarianship: Renewing the Social Mission of the Public Library. By Ronald B. McCabe. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2001. xvi, 171 pp. $39.50. ISBN 0-8108-3905-9. Twenty years ago, in what has become the locus classicuson the...

Communications.
March 22, 2002... To the Editor: Thank you for publishing a review of my book Silencing Scientists and Scholars in Other Fields in Libraries & Culture (Spring 2000, review by John Budd). I think there are some errors in the review that should be...