At the Library: Libraries have evolved way past books | Guest Columns

Libraries have been around, in some form or another, for literally thousands of years. The earliest libraries functioned largely as archives, to store important documents (back then, in the form of clay tablets). Over time they began to collect scholarly resources on all manner of subjects, and became regarded as institutions of higher learning and knowledge. One of the most famous of these libraries was the Library of Alexandria (known best for its fiery demise), which — thanks to their trusty librarian Zenodotus — was the first known library to organize their materials alphabetically. This is a rather unremarkable concept to us today, but at the time it was truly groundbreaking! This brings us to about 280 BC, and, while libraries went through many different forms between then and now, public libraries as we know them are still relatively novel…