Lending library

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A lending library is a library from which books are lent out[1]. Early instances or invocations of lending libraries date back at least to “c1586 C'TESS PEMBROKE Ps. CXII. v, He is..Most liberall and lending. 1708 J. CHAMBERLAYNE St. Gt. Brit. III. xii. 475 [The Libraries] of Cambridge are Lending-libraries; that is, he that is qualified may borrow out of it any book he wants” [2]. This definition is closly associated with libraries in England before the Public Libraries Act (1850) was passed which allowed cities to use taxes to create and maintain libraries but did not require cities build them [3]. This definition is also applicable in the United States before 1850 and widespread School District Library Acts were passed in many states at the same time. It may also refer to a library or other institution that sends materials on request to another library, usually via interlibrary loan[4].

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[edit] References

  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. (1989), [1]
  2. ^ Oxford English Dictionary Online, 2008, http://dictionary.oed.com.ezproxy.aec.talonline.ca/cgi/entry/50131766/50131766se1?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=lending+library&first=1&max_to_show=10&hilite=50131766se1
  3. ^ Learner, Fred. The Story of Libraries. New York: Continuum, 1998.
  4. ^ Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science, [2]