A look into the past, present and thoughts about the future of print, books, libraries and more.

1. • Get to know the Dewey Decimal Classification
system
Libraries:
The Past, Present and
Future
A brief look at the journey of libraries, books and media.
By Javed Mohammed
2019
All Images are copyright of respective owners

2. Libraries have existed since ancient times
The Role, Media, and Audience has changed over time

3. LIBRARIES: A PART OF CIVILIZATION

4. MISSION OF LIBRARIES
• Store and Archive Research, Discoveries and
intellectual output of humanity
• Transmit recorded knowledge
• Make information accessible
• Preserve knowledge for future generations

5. BROAD CATEGORIES OF WRITING
• Religious Writings
• Recording History
• Literature
• Philosophy
• Science and Practical knowledge in specific fields

6. WHAT IS A LIBRARY
1. Collection
2. Organized
3. Access
4. Services
5. Educating, informing, or entertaining
6. Learning and advancing society
(George Eberhart)

7. HOW ANCIENT LIBRARIES STARTED
• Started by royalty and noble people
• Wealthy began to develop private libraries for
themselves and or peers
• Used to keep records and then moved onto other
areas
• Places of worship became centers of learning

8. MESOPOTAMIA
Ashurbanipal, the Oldest Surviving Royal Library
in the World with Over 30,000 Clay Tablets

9. Sumerian Information
Technology 3500 BC
Clay Tablets
Written language was Cuneiform

10. SUMERIAN CLAY TABLET LIBRARY

11. EARLY LIBRARY EVOLUTION
Clay Tablets
Papyrus Scrolls
• Repositories were
a collection of
written knowledge
that was stored and
duplicated by
Scribes in Copy
shops. Started with
Clay tablets then
advanced to
Papyrus Scrolls

12. ANCIENT EGYPT – 3000 BC
• Papyrus
•
Made from the papyrus plant
• Written language was Hieroglyphs
Libraries always had librarians,
they were called Scribes and
could read and write

13. ANCIENT LIBRARIES
Great Library of Alexandria(1600-146 BC)
Egyptian/Greek/Roman
known for research and
had over 700,000
Papyrus scrolls.
Scrolls stored in slots
like modern day
mailboxes with their
titles written on tags and
brought by people
called Pages

14. GREAT LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA
• World’s first great library
• Built by the Greeks
• Becomes center of learning
• By 250 B.C. had approx. 490,000 rolls

15. ANCIENT ROMAN LIBRARIES
The Library of Celsus is an ancient Roman building in Ephesus,
Turkey, (135 AD)

16. ANCIENT CHINESE LIBRARIES
First to use Silk and then
Paper to make books

17. PAPER
•In China books were initially made of Silk but very
costly.
•Paper was invented ~ 100 BC – 105 AD by Ts'ai
Lun using tree bark, hemp and plant fibers

18. A.D. 641: RISE OF ISLAM (BAYT AL-HIKMAH
The House of Wisdom in Baghdad: One of the Greatest Libraries
established under Harun Al-Rashid in the Abbasid Empire

19. AL QARAWIYEEN
The first Library and University founded in 859 AD by Fatima Al-Fihri
in Fez, Morocco.

20. RENAISSANCE: PAPER AND THE PRESS
• Paper made its way to Europe via the Muslims between 1100-
1400 and Germans become the best at making it.
• Johann Gutenberg’s in 1450’s invented moveable type and
made the printed word available to the masses.
• Books were no longer handwritten and the Bible became
the first best-seller. During the Renaissance, interest in
ancient cultures, literature, and art grew.
• Paris, London become publishing hubs and later Mexico in
the New World

21. AN EARLY PRINTED BOOK

22. • 1600s first reference libraries in Europe
• 1731 first US subscription library and in
Europe in late 1700s mainly wealthy
people and private libraries
• Public libraries started to appear in
Europe, UK and US around 1850
• Boston Public (1854), New York Public
(1895), L.A. Public (1895)
MODERN LIBRARIES

23. UNIVERSITIES & LIBRARIES
• There is a strong correlation between access to books by
the masses and the birth of Universities in Europe and
then the US.
• One of the first University libraries was University of Paris
in 1250 (books sorted by 10 Categories)
• Reference and Circulation Copies started
• Many libraries were started by book donations from
wealthy citizens.

24. ANDREW CARNEGIE
• Andrew Carnegie from 1886-1920 sponsored
1600-3,000 libraries in US, UK, and ROW
• Now all public libraries paid for through taxes

25. DEWEY DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION
(DDC)
• DDC helps to identify and locate books easily
• Developed in late 1800s
• Used by over 200K libraries in 135 Countries

26. PRESENT: US LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Established in 1800 to serve Congress. The largest library in the world to
date. Collection of 167M+ Items (2018) and adds 12K items every day.

27. US LIBRARIES: TOTAL 122,101+GROWING
• Public 9,221
• Academic 3,827
• 2-year colleges 1,434
• Colleges & universities 2,393
• School Libraries/Media
Centers 99,180
• Public schools 81,920
• Private schools 17,100
• BIA (Bureau of Indian
Affairs)160
• Special 8,476 (e.g. law,
music, corporate, museum)
• Armed Forces Libraries
284
• Government Libraries
1,113
Source: ALA Fact sheet 1: Number of Libraries in the USA
www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/library/libraryfactsheet/alalibraryfactsheet1.cfm

28. TECHNOLOGY & TRANSTION
The Information Age, is an idea
that the current age will be
characterized by the ability of
individuals to transfer information
freely, and to have instant
access to knowledge that would
have been difficult or impossible
to find previously.
-Wikipedia

29. PRINT SLOWLY DYING AND ONLINE THRIVING

30. THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE
Physical
Digital
Native
Preservation & Growth
Re-thinking space
Hybrid
(Co-
exist)

31. 8 IN 10 PEOPLE HAVE CELL PHONES
80%+ of the Worlds
adult population has
mobile phones making
it the communications
technology of choice

32. CELL PHONE NOVELS
According to a recent
Mainichi Shinbum
newspaper survey, 86% of
high school, 75% of middle
school and 23% of grade
school girls read cell
phone novels.

33. KINDLE: REVOLUTIONIZES BOOKS &
PUBLISHING (KIND OFF)
Amazon released the Kindle, its first e-
reader, on November 19, 2007, for US$399

34. RACKS OF BOOKS REPLACED BY
SERVERS ON BACKEND

35. TODAY: LIBRARY IS MORE THAN
BOOKS IT PROVIDES SERVICES

36. LIBRARIES ARE LIVING ORGANISMS
they change to meet societies
needs (Ranganathan)

37. LIBRARIES AND WAR
• Libraries are the repositories
of knowledge in
communities and the
culture they represent.
• Unfortunately because of
their importance libraries
have been destroyed in
wars
• Recent examples are in
Bosnia Herzogovina, Iraq
and others.

38. TECHNOLOGY TRENDS THAT MAY
IMPACT LIBRARIES
1. Machine Learning and AI
2. Chatbots and Digital Assistants
3. Block Chain Technology
4. Open Source
5. Cloud Native
6. Internet of Things
7. Digital Government Platforms
8. Big Data
9. Digital Citizen Engagement
10. Things I don’t know about
1. Autonomous Cars
2. Drones
3. 3D Printers
4. Next generation Robots
5. Next generation Video games
6. Citizen Space travel

39. TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION
LIFECYCLE

40. ROOM-TO-READ
A Non-profit that turns Rooms in Asia into Libraries for
Millions of Children

41. MOBILE LIBRARIES GO WHERE
PATRONS CAN’T COME.
BrightStar Mobile
library reaches
5,000 children in
under-developed
communities in
Northern Pakistan

42. LITTLE FREE LIBRARY
75,000+ Book Exchange in 88 Countries and Local Communities

43. SHIPPING CONTAINER LIBRARY
Re-purpoposing Shipping Containers into Libraries

44. MOBILE BIKE LIBRARY

45. UN 2030 SDG GOALS 5PS
• People: the wellbeing of all people
• Planet: protection of the earth’s ecosystems
• Prosperity: continued economic & technological
growth
• Peace: securing peace
• Partnership: improving international cooperation
The UN Sustainable Development Goals could be a blueprint for
positive change including libraries

46. LIBRARIES CAN BUILD AWARENESS
AND HELP ADDRESS SOCIAL ISSUES
• Poverty
• Crime
• Illiteracy
• Health and wellness
• Economic issues

47. THOUGHTS ON FUTURE
• Digital content (Search, Browse or Scan only)
• Semantic web and to know meaning of information
• Understand libraries role in e-Learning
• How to handle long-form immersive content, print on demand, traditional
print publication
• How to facilitate IP Access and Protection
• Libraries role as custodian of e-Resources

48. LIBRARY OF THE FUTURE
• Like “Beauty” the library and what it means to us will
lie in the eyes of the beholder
• It can be Amoeba like, with a single function, Read,
Print, Consume content
• Or It can be Galaxy like, continually growing,
changing, and adapting by allowing people and
services in a community to connect.

49. THE END OR A NEW BEGINNING?
“I have always
imagined that
Paradise will be a
kind of library.”
Jorge Luis Borges