Libraries have had quite an impressive impact on societies throughout the word for years. Their history started with the very first effort of organizing and keeping documents during the ancient civilizations. Thousands of clay tablets and papyrus scrolls from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia have been discovered and are believed to form a major component of the first library. The tablet and scrolls were found in some safe places tailored to store them safely. Such safe places were libraries given that classification, staffing and presentation criteria were available just like in the current libraries.

After the safe scroll libraries, the ancient roman and classical Greek libraries stepped in. Most of these libraries were private though by 296 B.C., public libraries came into existence. The classification system started taking full effect in these libraries as per the designs of the Greek scholar and Poet, Callimachus. With time, most of the Roman and Greek libraries became community centered and eventually expanded to homes with the advancement of the Greek culture and socioeconomic standing.

With time, libraries started changing from scrolls which had become common to more appropriate codex format. Such codexes were developed during the 1st century by the Romans from some wooden tablets. Religion also played a crucial role in the foundation of libraries particularly in the Islamic nation. Mosques, acted as libraries during the 9th centuries, as they could be used to store Quran and other religious texts. The manuscripts from these books were made from paper made after the Arabs learnt the skills of paper making from the Chinese.

After libraries became more fashionable in the Middle Eastern countries, leaders started building some complex library structures which provided remarkable scenic quality in comparison to the conventional structures. A number of them were surrounded by beautiful garden, as well as, waterways, whilst others had hundreds of room which would accommodate catalogues, seating areas, as well as, sections for copyists, and translators from Greek, Egypt and Persia.

During the 17th century, the medieval libraries and chained libraries were introduced with the intention of reflecting the manuscript’s value. Librarians in such libraries chained the books to shelves and lecterns and would only lend them out if deposit or security was provided first. However, overtime lending became an acceptable practice.

With time, digital libraries and card catalogues were formed to accommodate the various technological forms, comprising of microform, prints and the internet. These technological forms have aided the evolution of libraries from the use of manual search to automatic searching. And as they evolve, so does the need for organization of book. Consequently, most of the libraries today have various departments such as stack maintenance, reference, circulation and technological services that aids in maintaining order.

Judging from the history of library, it is quite clear to me that, from time in memorial, there have been a pressing need to preserve some artifacts for later use. In fact, the compilation of written work in some sort of libraries is a practice old as the civilization itself. Amazingly, libraries have a history of advancing intellectual freedom issue while at the same time educating the masses. It is for this reason that, ethical use of libraries is emphasized in today’s academic world to guarantee preservation of published materials and libraries as fundamental institutions in the rather democratic and civilized societies.