The Public library reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Public library

A public library is a library which is accessible by the public and is often operated by civil servantss and funded from public sources.

Public libraries exist in most nations of the world and are considered an essential part of having an educated and literate population. American businessman Andrew Carnegie donated the money for the building of thousands of Carnegie libraries in English-speaking countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In addition to books and periodicals, most public libraries today have a wide array of other media including CDss, software, video tapess, and DVDs and facilities to use internet.

Many public libraries around the world pay authors for having books in libraries. These are known as Public Lending Right programs.

See also Public space, List of libraries

External links

• Security Issues in Ohio Public Libraries
• Format Proliferation in Public Libraries
• Public Library Services for Home Schooling
• Small Public Libraries Can Serve Big

This is the "Public library" reference article from the English Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.