Fred Lerner's The Story of Libraries

This is a history of library and librarianship, from the ancient time to nowadays digital age. Like other reader, I am also wondering why the title of the book is “the story of libraries” and not “the history of libraries.” The author, Fred Lerner explains in the Preface: “The Story of Libraries is a brief historical narrative, not an exhaustive statistical survey.” The aim of this book is: “to trace the evolution of libraries and to explore the role they played in the society.”

This book is very informative; but I wish it covers more library “stories” of East Asia countries such as the China Emperor’s royal libraries and the private book-collectors’ libraries in the ancient. Those areas are still the “gray” area of Chinese librarianship.

I was surprised to find out that the Germany libraries extended their library services to young readers was much slower than the US. And the initially purpose of the children services in Germany was simply to keep young people away from bad company/trouble. The motivation was sociological rather than educational, compare the American experience.

This book not only appeals to the librarians, but also the general reader.