Library of Congress

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

WASHINGTON, D. C. braries, of which that of Cordova con- have been Metastasio, Calzabigi, and tained 250,000 volumes. In Britain and Italy libraries were also founded with great zeal, particularly in the former country, by Richard Aungerville; in the latter by Petrarch, Boccaccio, and others. After the invention of the art of printing this was done more easily and at less expense. The principal libraries of modern times are the national library at Paris, with nearly 2,300,000 books and 10,000 MSS., and the British Museum over 1,500,000 library, London, with books and 100,000 MSS. The central court library at Munich, the imperial library at St. Petersburg, and the royal library at Berlin have each over 1,000,- 000 volumes and thousands of MSS. Other large and valuable libraries are the imperial library at Vienna; the royal libraries at Stuttgart, Dresden, and Copenhagen; the university libraries of Genoa, Prague, Göttingen, Upsala, Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin; also the libraries of Moscow, Venice, Florence, Milan, Bologna, Naples, and the Advocates', Edinburgh. The Vatican library, Rome, and the Bodleian, Oxford, are particularly valuable for rare books and MSS. The spread of education developing a taste for knowledge, has led all highly civilized nations to establish ex- Public Library systems consisting of small libraries easy of access for the people, each provided with books that are most in demand in that section of the country. The Public Library system of the United States may be said to extend to every corner of the country. By means of the Dept. of Traveling Libraries books are provided for persons living in remote country districts. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. See CON- GRESS, LIBRARY OF.