A remarkable book about books amd libraries

[Godfrey]

If you are a fact junkie, as I am, you will love this book. If you can’t resist looking through The Guinness Book of World Records, this is a book for you. Godfrey Oswald, a British librarian, has worked as cataloguer, database searcher and library website manager.

As would be expected from the book’s title, the largest and oldest libraries of various types; the largest, oldest, and tallest library buildings; the largest collection; and the largest special collections in the world and in individual countries are listed. There are a few “smallest”: the G8 country with the smallest number of public libraries per capita (Japan); the state with the smallest library budget in the United States (North Dakota).

The section World Records for Books, Periodicals and Bookstores includes the earliest written works and the first books printed in various languages and other records about these materials; for example, the most overdue library book (287 years), the most popular author among library users in the U.K. (Catherine Cookson), the oldest continuously trading bookstore in Europe (John Smith & Sons Bookshop in Glasgow, Scotland).

Some of the interesting facts found in the Miscellaneous World Records for Libraries section include the most expensive library (the U.S. National Security Agency library at Fort Mead, Maryland, with a annual budget of $900 million); a list of major films that featured libraries; a list of some notable people who have worked in libraries or as librarians; and 40 translations of the word “library” around the world.

There is a section that deals with library catalogues, databases (in 1951 the U.S. Census Bureau produced the first important database), indexing services, citation indexes, microfilm (in 1884 the National library of France was the first library to make use of microfilm), electronic journals and books (in 1986 the Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia was the first major reference book to be released on CDROM), search engines (the largest search engine, FAST, also known as AllTheWeb, based in Oslo, Norway, holds over 700 million webpages); and OPACS (Geac Library Automation Systems, based in a suburb of Toronto, was the first company to develop library OPACs).

The last section of the book deals with library and information science organizations, such as library schools (the Columbia University School of Library Service in New York City was the first library school, established in 1887); library associations (the Japan Library Association, set up in 1892, was the first national library association in Asia); and other tidbits of information that did not fit into the other sections (the first full-time paid librarian in the U.K. was Richard Johnson, who in 1653 was appointed by the Chetham Library in Manchester at an annual salary of 15 pounds).

Occasionally Oswald strays into opinion rather than pure facts. He lists “the ten greatest inventions used in libraries today” (paper, book printing, the Internet, microfilm, electric bulb, television, photocopying, personal computer, CD-ROM disk, and DVDROM disk) and the “18 greatest texts of all time”. Other librarians might have chosen different items for these lists.

In addition to his list of facts Oswald has provided “notes” at the end of many entries. These notes contain interesting information that is not a record; for example, the Coptic language; how an original map of 1507 came to the Library of Congress; the living organism that has existed for thousands of years. Each section begins with an introduction to the topic and there are many explanations about topics that the general public is unlikely to understand, such as classification and the Anglo-American cataloguing rules. Some topics, such as the earliest libraries, are in essay form rather than in list form.

The book’s content is enhanced by 211 black and white photographs of buildings, library interiors, paintings, rare books and much else. There is a two-page bibliography and an excellent 16-page, small-print index.