18 Amazing Facts About Libraries

Libraries are magical places. As a child, they offer you the opportunity to explore endless worlds and escape to mystical new places. They provide story times and community events. As an adult, they can help you to study for exams or read about your favorite historical events. Many even offer movie and music rentals. However, there is much more to the history of libraries than the books that are found on their shelves and the library cataloging system that organizes them. Here are some amazing facts about the public institutions that citizens know and love:

1. In an effort to expound its library, all ships that entered ancient Egypt were required to relinquish all books on board to the library of Alexandria. Then, the books were copied. The original book stayed in the library’s archives and the copy was returned to the ship.
2. There are over 14,330 McDonalds restaurants in the United States. However, there are even more public libraries.
3. Libraries aren’t just limited to books. There are over 150 libraries in the world that offer human check-outs. This allows the borrower to check-out a human and listen to their stories.
4. Art libraries are available in some German cities. Here, you can pay five euros and borrow certain paintings and sculptures. Once you have checked them out, you can put them on display at your home for several months before having to return them.
5. In Norway, once you have published a book, the government buys 1,000 copies to distribute to all of the libraries in the country.
6. Wondering what the most stolen book is from public libraries? Ironically, The Guinness Book of World Records holds the record.
7. When segregation ended, United States public libraries were some of the first institutions to be fully integrated.
8. When visiting the Haskell Free Library, you could have the opportunity to be in two places at one time. It is built on the US/Canadian border. By exiting out through different doors than those you entered through, you enter into a different country and are required to report to customs.
9. In some places, you are allowed to check out seeds from the library. It is expected that you replace the seeds once a fruitful harvest is reached.
10. The Harvard University Library houses an extensive collection of books bound in human skins.
11. The largest single floor library in the US is located in McAllen Texas. The building is over 124,500 square feet and was originally a Walmart.
12. Any time a library in the UK or Ireland lends out their books, the authors of those books get paid.
13. The Beinecke Rare book and Manuscript Library at Yale University has walls constructed of translucent marble.
14. Norway doesn’t require you to return your library books to the same library in which they were lent. Instead, they can be returned to any library in the country.
15. In Oakland, California, you can check out tools. They have over 3,500 power and hand tools that can be borrowed by the public.
16. The largest library in the world is The Library of Congress. It contains more than 158 million items that stretch over 838 miles of bookshelves.
17. The smallest library in the world is located in New York City. It is a tiny, portable hub with room for only one reader at a time.
18. The first library catalog system was established during the Han Dynasty.

Libraries are wonderful resources for learning. They can open up worlds and spark imagination. With tools such as the library cataloging system, you have the opportunity to access endless amounts of knowledge. Take advantage of your public library and get to reading!

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