The Library World

This spectacular book is the first single volume to tell the story of the library as a distinct building type, all around the world. Throughout the ages, book collections have served to symbolize their owners culture and learning, and the wealthy and powerful have spent lavishly on buildings to house them. In its highest form the library became a total work of art, combining painting, sculpture, furniture and architecture into seamless, dramatic spaces. The finest libraries are repositories not just of books, but of learning, creativity and contemplation; they embody some of the highest achievements of humankind. This book recounts that history in text and images of truly outstanding quality.

An encyclopedia designed especially to meet the needs of elementary, junior high, and senior high school students.

This work deals with the basic questions that are tackled by liberation theology - oppression, violence, domination and marginalization. It then goes on to show how the Christian faith can be used as an agent in promoting social and individual liberation, and how faith and politics relate.

Published to coincide with the ongoing World Treasures exhibition, which first opened in the summer of 2001, Beginnings reveals how common themes have been treated in different cultures - be they African, Hindu, Hispanic, Tibetan, Islamic, Judeo-Christian or Native American - and is an exploration of how such cultures have dealt with the creation of the universe and explained the heavens and earth.Underlying these seemingly complex issues are three key questions: Where does it - the universe, the cosmos - all come from? How can we explain and order the universe and cope with it? How do we record the experience?These questions and the answers to them are presented in over 130 color images from the Library's collections ranging from a twelfth-century Taoist scroll painting of The Eight Immortals by Zhao Boju, to a Mesopotamian Incantation Bowl. Beginnings closes with a section that includes the earliest examples of writing and printing.

A library is not just a collection of books, but also the buildings that house them. From the great dome of the Library of Congress, to the white facade of the Seinäjoki Library in Finland, the architecture of a library is a symbol of its time as well as of its builders' wealth, culture, and learning.