INTRODUCTION TO LIBRARY AND

INFORMATION SCIENCE

ARNEIL S. ENARIO
St. Paul University Surigao
BRIEF HISTORY OF LIBRARY
ARNEIL S. ENARIO
St. Paul University Surigao
The earliest system in storing information and transmitting it from
one person to another was language.
History, rituals, stories, prayers, medical & other knowledge were
passed on from one generation to another.
When people realized that spoken words could be represented by visual
symbols, they invented their second means for the preservation and
transmission of knowledge: writing- the chief medium used for this purpose
for more than 5000 years.
The first writings were crude pictures carved on rocks, stone,
bark, metal and clay or whatever materials were at hand.
 Ideographic-
representing the
Pictographic- idea suggested
representing by the object
an object.

Phonographic-
representing sound
of the object or idea.
The first writings have three kinds
The story of books and libraries from earliest times to
the present is closely interwoven
• with the story of writing and other methods of
preserving and transmitting information and
knowledge,
• with materials and the physical forms which have
been used for these purposes and
• with the methods of preserving them and making of
them accessible for use.
• For with the first book came the necessity for a place
to keep it, to make it accessible for use and to pass it
on to succeeding generations.
Brief History of Books and Library
Language- the earliest system for storing information
and transmitting it from one person to another.

What are transmitted?

Words prayers
History medical and other knowledge
Rituals
Stories
 First writings were crude
pictures carved on rocks,
stone, bark, metal , and clay

Three Kinds:
1. pictographic
2. Ideographic
3. phonographic
 PICTOGRAPHIC
a record that uses visual
symbols, such as an ancient
cave picture or a graph or
chart that uses symbols to
denote a specific number of
people, automobiles,
industries, etc.

Mesopotamian clay tablet(3) c.3000 BC. Scratched on this is a list of

commodities: different types of metal containers.
2. Ideographic- representing the idea
suggested by an object

First writings were

crude pictures carved
on rocks, stone, bark,
metal , and clay
First writings were crude pictures carved on rocks,
stone, bark, metal , and clay

3. Phonographic- representing the sound of the

object or idea
- A writing system that relies predominantly on
the representation of the sounds of words.
Source: Language Files, eleventh edition, edited
by Vedrana Mihalicek and Christin Wilson
Crude picture/ pictographic

According to Gates, The story of books and libraries from earliest

times to the present is closely interwoven with the story of writing
and other methods of preserving and transmitting information and
knowledge, with the materials and the physical forms which have
been used for these purposes, and with the methods of preserving them
and of making them accessible for use.

Vegetable fiber
wood
Cloth
Bark
Animal skin
Clay
Metal
 Writing, Books, and Libraries
a. The Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians

The Sumerians:
3600-2357 B.C. The Sumerian civilization flourish in the Tigris-Euphrates
valley
CUNEIFORM- style of writing of the Sumerians, considered their greatest
contribution to human culture- is the oldest system known, oldest form
of tool of trade and commerce.
From Latin word “cuneus” means “wedge”- meaning – an object with one
pointed edge and one thick edge which you keep it firmly in position. .
Materials used were soft clay, and wedge shape stylus of metal, ivory,
or wood.
“Tablets” hard baked clay
1. private and religious, as well as government and libraries.

Ex. Telloh Library- collection- 30,000 tablets.

2700 B.C. Sumerians established
In Sumerian and Babylonian writing , the characters
represented syllables rather than letters.
In Babylonia, the library of Borshippa- with scribes
of Assurbanipal, king of Assyria 9d. Ca. 626 B.C. )
who preserved them in his library at Nineveh.
Among the most famous surviving specimens of
cuneiform writing are the Code of Hammurabi, now
in Louvre Museum , in Paris. And the Gilgamesh
Epic, part of the story is the story of the great flood.

CUNEIFORM WRITING IN TABLET

Were the Earliest Civilizations in Sumer?

In about 7200 B.C., a settlement, Catal Hoyuk (Çatal Hüyük),

developed in Anatolia, south central Turkey. About 6000 Neolithic
people lived there, in fortifications of linked, rectangular, mud-
brick buildings. The inhabitants mainly hunted or gathered their
food, but they also raised animals and stored surplus grains. Until
recently, however, it was thought the earliest civilizations began
somewhat further south, in Sumer. Sumer was the site of what is
sometimes called an urban revolution affecting the entire Near
East, lasting about a millennium, and leading to changes in
government, technology, the economy, and culture, as well as
urbanization, according to Van de Mieroop
A History of the Ancient Neareast
Sumer's Natural Resources:

For civilization to develop, the land must be

fertile enough to support an expanding
population. Not only did early populations need
a soil rich in nutrients, but also water. Egypt and
Mesopotamia (literally, "the land between
rivers"), blessed with just such life-sustaining
rivers, are sometimes referred to together as the
Fertile Crescent.
How Sumer's Trade Led to Writing:
With an increase in trade, the Sumerians
needed to keep records. The Sumerians may have
learned the rudiments of writing from their
predecessors, but they enhanced it. Their counting
marks, made on clay tablets, were wedge-shaped
indentations known as cuneiform. The Sumerians
also developed monarchy, the wooden wheel to help
draw their carts, the plough for agriculture, and the
oar for their ships.
In time, another Semitic group, the
Akkadians, migrated from the Arabian
Peninsula to the area of the Sumerian city-
states. The Sumerians gradually came
under the political control of the Akkadians,
while simultaneously the Akkadians
adopted elements of Sumerian law,
government, religion, literature, and writing.
Egyptians

> The civilization of ancient Egypt flourished simultaneously with the Sumerians,
Babylonian, and Assyrian civilization.

Materials: 1. Papyrus sheet

Instrument : brushlike pen made by fraying the edges of a reed.
Form of books: Roll, usually a little more than 12 inches high and about 20
feet long, made from papyrus sheets, pasted end to end.
Style of writing: Hieroglyphic – Greek - hieros, meaning sacred, glyphic- to carve.

Twenty-four consonants, but did not adopt a complete alphabetic style of

writing- mixed with pictograph, ideographs, and syllabic signs with their letters and
developed a sketchy kind of writing for manuscripts, but the sacred carvings on
their monuments were hieroglyphs.
The Egyptian Hieroglyphs is among the old writing
system in the world. Unlike its contemporary
cuneiform Sumerian, Egyptian Hieroglyph's origin is
much more obscure.
There is no identifiable precursor. It was once thought
that the origin of Egyptian Hieroglyphs are religious
and historical, but recent developments could point to
an economical impetus for this script as well as push
back the time depth of this writing system.
How It Works
The Egyptian writing system is complex but relatively
straightforward. The inventory of signs is divided into
three major categories, namely (1) logograms, signs
that write out morphemes; (2) phonograms, signs that
represent one or more sounds); and (3)
determinatives, signs that denote neither morpheme
nor sound but help with the meaning of a group of
signs that precede them.
Examples of logograms:
Like Proto-Sinaitic-derived scripts,
Egyptians wrote only with consonants. As a
result, all phonograms are uniconsonantal,
biconsonantal, and triconsonantal.
The following are the uniconsonantals:
F.Y.I. - "Pronunciation" of Egyptian Hieroglyphs
Technically we don't know what vowels went in
between the consonants of each sign. For
convenience (as it was very hard to pronounce
a string of consonants without vowels in the
middle of a lecture) archaeologists made up a
protocol of artificially putting vowels in
hieroglyphs.
A /e/ is placed between consonants, /y/ is transcribed as /i/,
/w/ became /u/, and /3/ and /‘>/ are substituted as /a/. For
some reason this system had taken a life of its own, and often
now people actually think it is how Egyptian words were
pronounced. For example, the 19th Dynasty king R‘-mss is
known as Ramses or Rameses in modern day. However, the
correct rendition of his name was probably Riamesesa, which
was discovered from cuneiform documents composed for
diplomatic exchange between Mesopotamia and Egypt.
The determinative is a glyph that carries no phonetic
value but instead is added at the end of a word to
clarify the meaning of the word. This is due to the fact
that the writing system does not record vowels, and
therefore different words with the same set of
consonants (but different vowels) can be written by
the same sequence of glyphs. Therefore the
determinative became necessary to disambiguate the
meaning of a sequence of glyphs.
• Ancient Greek alphabet
• This alphabet is based on inscriptions from Crete dated to
about 800 BC. Greek was written from right to left in
horizontal lines at this time. The names of the letters were
slightly different to those for later verities’ Greek.
Greek alphabet (Classical Attic pronunciation)
• Obsolete and archaic letters
Used to write
• Greek (Ελληνικά), an Indo-European language spoken by
about 14 million people mainly in Greece and Cyprus,
where it is an official language. Greek is also recognised as
a minority language in parts of Turkey, Italy and Albania.
• Today the Greek alphabet is used only to write Greek,
however at various times in the past it has been used to
write such languages as Lydian, Phrygian, Thracian,
Gaulish, Hebrew, Arabic, Old Ossetic, Albanian, Turkish,
Aromanian, Gagauz, Surguch and Urum.
• Greek numerals and other symbols
• The Ancient Greeks had two numeric systems: the
Acrophonic or Attic system used the letters iota, delta,
gamma, eta, nu and mu in various combinations. These
letters were used as they represented the first letters of the
number names, with the exception of iota: Γέντε (gente) for
5, which became Πέντε (pente); Δέκα (Deka) for
10, Ηἑκατόν (Hektaton) for 100, Χίλιοι (Khilioi) for 1,000
and Μύριον (Myrion) for 10,000. This system was used
until the first century BC.
• Greek alphabet (Modern pronunciation)
• Sample text in Greek

Transliteration
Óli i ánthropi yeniúnde eléftheri ke ísi stin aksioprépia
ke ta dhikeómata. Íne prikizméni me loyikí ke
sinídhisi, ke ofílun na simberiféronde metaksí tus me
pnévma adhelfosínis.
• Sample text in Polytonic Greek

Sample text in handwritten Greek

• Translation
• All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and
should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
• ALPHABETUM - a Unicode font specifically designed for
ancient scripts, including classical & medieval Latin, ancient
Greek, Etruscan, Oscan, Umbrian, Faliscan, Messapic,
Picene, Iberian, Celtiberian, Gothic, Runic, Old & Middle
English, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Old Nordic, Ogham, Kharosthi,
Glagolitic, Old Cyrillic, Phoenician, Avestan, Ugaritic, Linear
B, Anatolian scripts, Coptic, Cypriot, Brahmi, Old Persian
cuneiform
The Chinese
Medium:
Writing
• Bone
• Bamboo stalks
• Tortoiseshell
• Wooden tablets Style of writings: characters
• Silk • Ideographic, and book forms were the
• Linen tablet and the roll. Little is known about
their libraries.
Writing instruments:
• Stylus
• Quill
• Brush like pen
The Chinese writing system is one of the oldest
known written languages – some of the earliest
examples of ancient Chinese writing date back to over
4,000 years ago. The Chinese writing systems uses a
logographic system (a series of symbols that
represent a complete word or a phrase). The system
consists of large Chinese symbols known as
characters.
The Chinese writing system is unique in many respects.

First, China is an enormous country with two main languages: Mandarin

Chinese and Cantonese Chinese. From these two languages sprouted
many different dialects. The Chinese writing system was the one unifying
element that brought all these languages into one standard written
language. For instance, while the pronunciation of the word “one” may
vary from Mandarin to Cantonese, the written character is the same.
Spoken Chinese has changed remarkably over the centuries, while
Chinese writing has changed little from the ancient Chinese
The Chinese writing system has changed little, but there are four distinct
periods of Chinese writing. The four phases of Chinese writing are:
1. Jia-gu wen (Oracle Bone). This is the earliest of Chinese
symbols. Samples of writing using this method dated back to (1500 –
1000 B.C.). These symbols were etched onto turtle shells and animal
bones. These bones were maintained as historical documents to the
reign of the Shang Dynasty.
2. Da zhuan (Greater Seal). This script appeared mostly on cast
bronze vessels and appeared primarily between 1100 – 700 B.C.
 3. Xiao zhuan (Lesser Seal). This is the elegant, flowing script
we normally associate with Chinese writing. This version of Chinese
calligraphy was the predecessor for the more streamlined version of
modern writing. The lesser seal script was originally found on bamboo
scrolls, but you can still find this beautiful Chinese calligraphy on silk
writings and landscape paintings.
4.Lis shu (Clerkly Script). This is the modern Chinese writing
system. This set of symbols became popular in part for its flowing script
that was fast and efficient to write. Also, this writing system was much
easier to use with pens, brushes and paper, which is part of the reason it
was adapted as the main Chinese calligraphy method.
While these pictograms are not truly Chinese characters, they do bear some
resemblance to the earliest Chinese characters. And at least in one instance an emblem,
namely bird with a solar symbol, continues to be used as clan name in early Shang
dynasty on bronze artefact.
The prevalent thought is that at some point in time these
symbols ceased to represent the objects they illustrate but
instead came to represent the words of the objects. In other
words, the symbols acquired linguistic values and became
logograms. However, exactly when this switch happened is
unknown. Perhaps it already had when these symbols were
incised into the pottery, which could mean that these artifact
have writing on them, but there is no way to prove one way or
another. At best we can say is that the symbols were
precursors to Chinese writing.
In the above example, two words are given for each sign. The
first word is the original meaning of the sign, presumably
because it represents the object it is supposed to represent,
and the second word is represented by the sign because its
pronunciation is the same or similar to the first word. For
instance, the first sign is that of a stylized elephant, and
unsurprisingly its original meaning is "elephant". However,
because "image" has the same pronunciation as "elephant"
(*ziaŋʔ), it is also written with the stylized elephant sign.
Similarly, the word "cauldron" (*teŋ) is represented by an
abstract geometric sign that is a stylized cauldron, but
because it is also similarly sounding to the word "to divine"
(*treŋ), the same abstract cauldron sign is shared.
The Romans
• Continued the Greek tradition in books.
• Through commerce with Greece, Rome had earlier adopted
Greek alphabet and Greek culture
• Materials: Papyrus, parchment, vellum, wood tablets
coated with wax, stylus, split-point reed, split feather quill.
• Form of books: roll, the wax tablet, the diptych (two boards
hinged together at one side with waxed surfaces on the
inside for writing), and the codex.
Books: all known fields of knowledge: law, science, mathematics,
philosophy, politics, religious and secular literature.
: Papyrus Rylands- earliest known fragments of a manuscript
book,
: Codex Vaticanus- (4th century) after Christ – oldest extant
manuscript of antiquity.
Libraries: reign Augustus Caesar, when Asinius Pollio established the
first public library in Rome
: 28 public libraries in Rome in the mid 4th century after Christ.
1. ULPIAN LIBRARY- founded by Trajan- a scholarly collection
 Julius Caesar drew up plans for public libraries, but his
plans were not carried out until the reign of Augustus, when
Asenius Pollios established the first public library in Rome
between 39 and 27 B.C.
Mid- 4th century- - at least 28 public libraries in Rome,
and they were used by any person, slave or free, who could
read.
In Roman libraries, Greek works were kept on one side
of the library, and Latin works were placed on the side; they
were arranged according to subject on shelves or in bins.
Except in rare cases, books had to be used in the reading
rooms.
The MIDDLE AGES
Monasteries
> With the distinction of the western Roman empire came the
decline of classical literature, and libraries, including Christian
collections, suffered at hand of the barbarians.
Literature was preserved and developed
16th century, leader- Cassiodorus- monasteries became a center
for all studies and for preservation of all writings.
- set up libraries- established scriptorium (writing
room)
Book of Kells- a manuscript of the Gospels, written in the eight
century and believed to be the most richly decorated manuscript
ever produced in an Irish scriptorium.
Charlemagne- (768-8140, marked by his efforts to raise the
educational level of his subjects, brought to western Europe a
period of educational and cultural growth.
Alcuin, master of the school at York in Northumbria,
was chosen by Charlemagne to direct his educational
program.
- made monasteries into a center of learning,
works copied in the scriptorium served as models for copyists
for many generations.

“ Carolingian Renaissance”- revival of learning during the

period of Charlemagne
In the scriptoria of countless monasteries in continental Europe,
Ireland, and England, as well as in the Byzantine Empire and
the Moslem world, manuscript were copied and recopied by the
monks and by secular scribes who were often brought in for
special tasks. These manuscripts tell us much of what we know
of the ancient world. In these institutions were preserved the
books of the bible; epics of Homer; the poetry of Virgil; the
Greek dramas; and the scientific, legal , and philosophical
works of the great minds of antiquity.
 Universities
By the middle of the twelfth century, men were going to
school to study Latin grammar, the appearance of writing
in the vernacular (the languages of the masses), and the
increasingly favorable social and the economic
conditions gave rise to the universities.
The outstanding universities of the Middle ages were:
Bologna, Paris, Heidelberg, Oxford, and Cambridge.
The Renaissance
• Also called “Age of humanism”
• In Italy during the fourteenth century, Petrarch and
Boccaccio were laying the foundations for new
revival of learning. They searched medieval
monasteries for old manuscript, and many long-
lost Latin works were recovered.
• Florence became the center of the Italian
Renaissance, under the Medicci saw most brilliant
development of culture since the Golden Age or
Greece.
Printing of Movable types
it is developed in Northern Europe
A success of printing depended upon a cheap substance
on which to print, which could apply heavy pressure over
a large frame, and a general knowledge of metal
technology.
“Incunabula”- from Latin word incunabulum meaning
“craddle”, indicating that printing was in its fancy.
The general knowledge of metal technology, which was essential to the
success of printing, was borrowed from the goldsmiths and silversmiths.
Inventions of printing with movable types- was considered most important
and success human cultural history.
Johann Gutenberg- (born in Mainz, Germany, about 1400) that credit is
given for the development of printing with movable types. His creative
genius combined the available materials an d supplied the ramaining
ssentials which made possible the printing of the famous 42-line Bible,
commonly called “Gutenberg Bible” between 1450-1456. This was the
first book printed in the movable types.
Recuyell of the Histories of Troy- first book printed in the English language.
printed between 1474 and 1476 by William Caxton, who learned the art in
order to be able to print his own translation
 1500 to 1900
Europe
Ottmar Mergenthaler (1866)
-invented the linotype machine

In England, wood came into use as a material for paper,

books were bound with cloth, and copyright legislation was
enacted.
In Europe, libraries flourished during the period from 1500
to 1900.
Linotype
machine
In France, the Bibliotheque Nationale(which had its origins in
the collection formed by the kings of France and dates from
Francis) was move to Paris by Charles IX (1560-1574) and
was greatly expanded and enlarged by Louis (1643-1715).

Germany had the finest libraries of the nineteenth century.

State libraries and university libraries were outstanding with
catalogs, popular, reading rooms, and children collection.
The Austrian royal Library, the royal library at Brussels, and
the university libraries at Ghent and Louvean were other
important libraries founded between 1500 and 1900.
The Bay Psalm Book – the earliest book known to have
been printed in colonial America in 1640.

IMPORTANT PRIVATE LIBRARIES OF EARLY

COLONIAL PERIOD were those of:
1.Elder Brewser of the Plymouth Colony( about 400
different works).

America
2. John Winthrop (over 100 volumes)
3. John Harvard (more than 300 volumes)

OUTSTANDING 18TH CENTURY LIBRARIES:

1. Cotton Mather of Boston (between 3000 and 4000
volumes)
2. James Logan of Philadelphia (more than 2000 volumes)
3. William Byrd II of Virginia (3600 titles)
 THE FIRST COLLEGES IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES
1. Harvard (1638)
2. William and Mary (1695)
3. Yale (1700)
4. Princeton (1746)

• Library Congress (LC) –established in 1800 to serve the

needs of congress
Modern Era: The Tentieth Century
•I
In the Twentieth Century, all libraries have been
characterized by enormous growth in size and in
importance.
Andrew Carnegie- greatest individual benefactor
of libraries whose gifts totaled over $41million.
The Library Services Act, enacted in 1956, promoted the
extension of public library services to rural areas only
included funds for materials and services but not for the
buildings.

This act is amended in 1964 and thereafter called the Library

Services and Constitution act(LSCA),extended federal aid
to urban as well as to rural public libraries for materials,
equipment, salaries, and also for construction.
 Summary

PEOPLE OR APPROXI- KIND OF FORMS OF KINDS OF EXAM- EXAM-

PERIOD MATE WRITING THE BOOK LIBRA- PLES OF PLES
DATES MATE- RIES LIBRARIES OF
RIALS EXAM- WRITING
USED PLES OF
LIBRARIES

Prehistory Picto- Cave

graphs paintings
Land-
marks
Word of
mouth
ANTIQUITY:
Summerians, 3600b.c Cunei- Clay tablet Temple, Telloh Code of
Babylonians, 626 b.c form Clay cylinder Government Borsippa Hammurabi
Assyrians Clay ,Private, Nineveh
stylus Royal
Greeks 2nd Linear A Tablet Private Alexandrian
(Crete) millennium Linear B library
B.C. Phoenician Roll Royal Library at
6th century added vowels Perganum
B.C. Papyrus Wax tablet Government Aristotle’s
146 B.C. vellum library
Parchment, codex
wax coated
boards
Ireland Plain and dyed
vellum
parchment
illumination

12th century Handwritten, Roll Private University of book of

to 15th books codex Royal Paris hours
century Church Greek and
Renaissance Parchment, Monastery Latin works
vellum university
PEOPLE OR APPROXI- KIND OF FORMS KINDS OF EXAM- EXAM-
PERIOD MATE WRITING OF THE LIBRA- PLES OF PLES OF
DATES MATE- BOOK RIES LIBRARIE writings
RIALS S
USED

Egyptians 300b.c. Hieroglyphic Temple Gizeh Prisse papyrus

writing roll government Thebes harris papyrus
papyrus private inscriptions
sheets, reed
brush ,inks
alphabet of 24
consonants

Phoenicians 276 B.C. Alphabet of Roll

22, sheet
consonants of
24 PAPYRUS
Chinese 3rd Ideographic Tablet temple
Millennium characters bone, roll
bamboo,silk,
linen
Invention of 15th century Printing with Handwriten Public Gutenberg
printing with movable books; Private bible
movable types Printed Government
types parchment leaflets royal
Vellum :calendars
paper

1500-1900 Printing Handwritten National Vatican

paper books; Private Oxford
Printed Public Cambridge
books, University British
periodical, Royal museum
maps, Biblioteque
Pamphlets, Nationale
newspaper
America 1607-1776 Printing with Printed books College Harvard
movable types almanacs University Oxford
(1639) Magazines Private Cambridge
Government subscription British
paper publication museum
Pamphlets Bibliotheque
broadsides nationale

America 20th century Printing microforms Academic Newyork

Papedisks rinted books Special library
Film Peridicals Public Folger
Tapes Audio visual School shakespeare
Computer Microforms Research Major
printing Database Private university
Microforms Videoforms Government Libraries
Magnetic tape Rare-book Major public
archives Libraries
Library of
congress
References
Gates, J. K. (1994). Guide to the use of libraries and
information sources. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.