a place in which literary, musical, artistic, or reference materials (as books, manuscripts, recordings, or films) are kept for use but not for sale b: a collection of such materials
A considerable collection of books kept for use, and not as merchandise; as, a private library; a public library.
(Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.)
1.
a. A place in which literary and artistic materials, such as books, periodicals, newspapers,
pamphlets, prints, records, and tapes, are kept for reading, reference, or lending.
b. A collection of such materials, especially when systematically arranged.
c. A room in a private home for such a collection.
d. An institution or foundation maintaining such a collection.
2. A commercial establishment that lends books for a fee.
3. A series or set of books issued by a publisher.
4. A collection of recorded data or tapes arranged for ease of use.
Collection of information resources in print or in other forms that is organized and made accessible for reading or study.
The word derives from the Latin liber ("book"). The origin of libraries lies in the keeping of written records, a practice that dates at least to the 3rd millennium bc in Babylonia. The first libraries as repositories of books were those of the Greek temples and those established in conjunction with the Greek schools of philosophy in the 4th century bc. Today’s libraries frequently contain periodicals, microfilms, tapes, videos, compact discs, and other materials in addition to books. The growth of on-line communications networks has enabled library users to search electronically linked databases worldwide.
A library is a collection of information, sources, resources, books, and
services, and the structure in which it is housed: it is organized for use and
maintained by a public body, an institution, or a private individual. In the
more traditional sense, a library is a collection of books. The term can mean
the collection, the building that houses such a collection, or both.
Public and institutional collections and services may be intended for use by
people who choose not to - or cannot afford to - purchase an extensive
collection themselves, who need material no individual can reasonably be
expected to have, or who require professional assistance with their research.
However, with the collection of media other than books for storing information,
many libraries are now also repositories and access points for maps, prints, or
other documents and works of art on various storage media such as microform
(microfilm/microfiche), audio tapes, CDs, LPs, cassettes, videotapes, and DVDs.
Libraries may also provide public facilities to access CD-ROMs, subscription
databases, and the Internet.
Thus, modern libraries are increasingly being redefined as places to get
unrestricted access to information in many formats and from many sources. In
addition to providing materials, they also provide the services of specialists,
librarians, who are experts at finding and organizing information and at
interpreting information needs.
More recently, libraries are understood as extending beyond the physical walls
of a building, by including material accessible by electronic means, and by
providing the assistance of librarians in navigating and analyzing tremendous
amounts of knowledge with a variety of digital tools.
The term "library" has itself acquired a secondary meaning: "a collection of
useful material for common use," and in this sense is used in fields such as
computer science, mathematics and statistics, electronics and biology.
On July 1, 1731, Benjamin Franklin and a group of members from the Junto, a philosophical association, drew up "Articles of Agreement" to form a library.
Between them they owned few works of literature, but; they recognized that via the Junto's combined purchasing power, books could be made available to all members.
50 subscribers invested 40 shillings each to start a library.
Members also promised to invest 10 shillings more every year to buy additional books and to help maintain the library.
They chose as their motto a Latin phrase which roughly translates as "To support the common good is divine."
A teacher in a classroom is reading a book aloud to her students. As she is reading it,
she positions the book in such a manner as to allow clear visibility of each page, so that every
student can also read the book at the same time. The end result is that the single copy of
the book is being reviewed by multiple people simultaneously, and none are making purchase.
Has the teacher violated copyright laws?
Making best use of current technology, the transference of a paper image into a digital format is commonly used as a method of preserving the integrity of the original image as oposed to creating a "copy". Such is why most photographs and documents are converted to digital format - not because duplication is intended, but because preservation of the most accurate presentation is desired and/or necessary.
A collector of comic books makes purchase of a rare and highly valued comic book.
In an effort to preserve the integrity and value of the book, the collector places it into a safe that is air tight and moisture resistant.
Prior to doing so, he realizes that he wishes to read the book and enjoy its contents, so he makes a single digitized version of it and saves it to his computer, to allow him to read it and not damage the collectable with oils that exist on finger tips and other external environmental factors that may diminish its integrity.
Is his single digitized copy an infringement of copyrights?
After making the digitized copy, he invites his friends over to his house, and they all gather around his computer to read the digitized version of the comic book.
No one can take home a copy of it.
Everybody who is gathered around can only view the single digitized version of the comic on the computer screen of the collector.
Has the collector now violated copyright laws?
Another person purchases a comic book that does not have great value, and; this person is not concerned with the impact that body oils may have on it, nor is he concerned with the effects of external atmospheric influences.
He regularly reads the comic book until he has exhausted his pleasure of reading it, and then decides to share the comic with his friends.
His group of friends pass the comic book amongst each other, each reading it as often as they wish until they tire of it, and then pass it to another friend.
After the entire circle of friends has exhausted their interest in the comic, they decide to donate it to a public library.
The library lends the comic to hundreds of its members, for as long as it remains in a readable presentation.
Has the single copy of the comic book been involved in copyright infringement?
Going back to the collector and his valued comic, this collector places the comic on a digital platform which allows people to view the comic book just as if they were at his home, but the viewing is handled in such a way that a copy of the comic cannot reasonably be created.
This presentation is a mirror of his friends looking over each other's shoulders to view and read it on the collector’s computer.
No person can make a copy to keep for themselves; they can only enjoy viewing it and reading it.
There still exists only one digital copy which people have the ability to share and read, but not the ability to own and possess.
Has copyright laws been violated?
An entire website is created that allows users to view and read a single copy of a comic book, without the ability to copy it themselves and keep a newly created duplicate.
All users of the website are viewing the same copy, and no further copies are created.
The original "paper version" still remains in a safe to retain its integrity.
Have copyright laws been violated?
I work with data extensively, and have created scripts that can publish any book, and will do so in about 40 seconds per entire book of average size 200 pages or less.
The entire website htmlComics.com, with over 2.2 million pages of comics, took less than 120 man hours to publish.
The end objective is to create an online library with every book of the Library of Congress.
I estimate that my code has the ability to accomplish such a task in about 2 years time with the assistance of 3 additional developers of similar skill set.
This tremendous accomplishment would enable America to return to reading entire books again, and not merely bits and pieces from blogs and other forms of postings or incomplete eBooks.
It also enables anybody access to books at anytime of day or night.
Such may propel America back to a level of education as other countries are achieving, yet we are falling behind on.