GST 121: Use of Library, Study Skills & ICT

Definition of the Library A library is an organized collection of resources made accessible to a defined community for reference or borrowing. It provides physical or digital access to materials and may be a physical building or virtual space or both. It is an organization that is concerned with the collection, processing, storage and dissemination of information for the purpose of reading, study, research and consultation. Islam (2004) described library as a learned institution equipped with treasures of knowledge maintained, organized, and managed by trained personnel to educate the children, men and women continuously and assist in their self-improvement through an effective and prompt dissemination of information embodied in the resources.

EVOLUTION OF LIBRARIES Libraries can be said to have existed for almost as long as records have been kept. A temple in the Babylonian town of Nippur, dating from the first half of the 3rd millennium BC, was found to have a number of rooms filled with clay tablets, suggesting a well-stocked archive or library. Similar collections of Assyrian clay tablets of the 2nd millennium BC were found at Tell elAmarna in Egypt. Ashurbanipal (reigned 668–c. 627 BC), the last of the great kings of Assyria, maintained an archive of some 25,000 tablets, comprising transcripts and texts systematically collected from temples throughout his kingdom