Cover; Title; Copyright; Dedication; CONTENTS; LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS; ACKNOWLEDGMENTS; INTRODUCTION; PART 1. THE LIBRARY THROUGH TIME; Chapter 1. Adventures in Ancient Greek and Roman Libraries; Chapter 2. The Image of the Medieval Library; Chapter 3. The Renaissance Library and the Challenge of Print; Chapter 4. From Printing Shop to Bookshelves: How Books Began the Journey to Enlightenment Libraries; Chapter 5. "The Advantages of Literature": The Subscription Library in Georgian Britain; Chapter 6. Literature and the Library in the Nineteenth Century; PART 2. THE LIBRARY IN IMAGINATION Chapter 7. The Library in FictionChapter 8. The Library in Poetry; Chapter 9. The Library in Film: Order and Mystery; PART 3. THE LIBRARY NOW AND IN THE FUTURE; Chapter 10. "Casting and Gathering": Libraries, Archives, and the Modern Writer; Chapter 11. Meanings of the Library Today; Chapter 12. The Modern Library and Global Democracy; SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY; CONTRIBUTORS; INDEX.

From Greek and Roman times to the digital era, the library has remained central to knowledge, scholarship, and the imagination. Generously illustrated, The Meaning of the Library examines this key institution of Western culture. Tracing what the library has meant since its beginning, examining how its significance has shifted, and pondering its importance in the twenty-first century, significant contributors-including the librarian of the Congress and the former executive director of the HathiTrust-present a cultural history of the library. Whether relishing an account of the Alexandrian Li.