The word library comes from the latin word liber meaning book

A library is a place for you to read, to know and to grow.

The library is the temple of learning and learning has liberated more people than all wars in history. Carl T. Rowan

Knowledge is free at the library. Just bring your own container.

If you want an education go to the library.

The word “library” comes from the Latin word “liber”, meaning “book”. This is a place where information in print (books, manuscripts, periodicals and musical scores) and in other forms is collected and arranged to serve people of all ages and interests.

Libraries appeared in ancient times in Egypt, Assyria, Greece and Rome. Perhaps the most famous library of that early day was at Alexandria. It was found by Ptolomy I. Ptolomy ordered the librarians to collect all Greek texts as well as manuscripts in other languages from every part of the known world. By the middle of the 1st century BC there were about 700,000 papyrus rolls in the library.

The first libraries in Ukraine were established in medieval monasteries.

The library today is the centre for all kinds of communications: printed, pictured, recorded, and even electronically stored. People go to the library to read, look, listen, search, inquire, relax, discuss, learn and think.

Libraries can be found in many places. There are libraries in small towns and large cities, and there are libraries in schools, universities, colleges.

The largest and best known libraries in the world are: The British National Library in London and the Library of Congress in Washington.

The national libraries of different countries keep in touch and exchange books and information.

Most libraries have a professionally educated staff whose first duty is to help you. Librarians also select and purchase books and other materials, organize materials so that you can easily use them, answer questions about facts, people, events, or advise you how to find information you need.

Many people have books at home. These are the books of their favourite authors, dictionaries and reference books and the like. My family also has a home library. It was my grandfather who started to collect it at the beginning of this century. There are over two thousand books in it. The authors I like most of all are Chekhov, Bulgakov, Fitzgerald, Jack London and others.

Answer the questions

1. What word does the word “library” come from?
2. What is a library?
3. Where did the first libraries appear?
4. What do you know about the famous library in Alexandria?
5. What is the library today?
6. Where can libraries be found?
7. Why do people go to libraries?
8. What are the famous libraries of the world?
9. What do we call the people who help us in libraries?
10. Have you got any books at home?
11. Do you often borrow books from the library?

Speak about libraries and your reading preferences.

The Word library comes from the Latin word ‘liber’, meaning ‘book’. This is a place where information in print (book, manuscripts, periodicals and musical scores) and in other forms is collected. Libraries can be found in many places. There are libraries in small towns and large cities and there are libraries at schools, universities, colleges. People go to the library to read, look, listen, search, inquire, relax, discuss, learn and think.

The largest and the best known libraries in the world are: the British National library in London, the Library of Congress in Washington and The Russian State Library. The British Library is the largest state library in Britain and is one of the finest libraries in the world. It is a rapidly growing modern research library with all its current publications. People who want to read for higher degrees and who are engaged in research in their spare time visit this library. Other library which is known throughout the world is the Library of Congress. It was established as a reference library in 1600 and gradually would come a world famous institution that now occupies three huge buildings.

A great number of items in collections of books, newspapers, periodicals, manuscripts, films, maps and works of drama, music, art and important and exciting documents from American history are kept in library’s archives. There are materials on practically every subject to which members of Congress can refer. And now I would tell you about Lenin State Library. The Lenin Library is the central library and is one of the world’s largest. The old library building was built in 1786 on a hill opposite the Kremlin by Vasily Bashenov and was a typical example of a Moscow town residence of that time. Its new buildings were built in 1940. When the library was founded in 1961, it contained over 1000.000 volumes, and was then located in the old Pashkov part of the complex. In 1915 its one reading room had a sitting capacity of only 170. Now it has 23 reading rooms of 2500 seating capacities and a book fund of 27 millions. There a wide choice of books: fiction, non-fiction, serious books, detective stories, science fiction, biographic, history and encyclopedias which are extremely useful in work, because it gives information about every branch of knowledge. Of cource there is a catalogue of books.

The titles and authors of all the books in the library can be found in a card catalogue or a computer listing. Each card in catalogue gives very helpful information about the book; the title send the author, the time and place of publication and the even something about it contents. The library is used daily by around 10000 people. Most librarians have a professionally staff whose first duty is to help you.

Librarians also select books and other materials, organize materials so that you can easily use them, answer questions about facts, people, events, or advise you how to find the information you need. The library today is a centre for all kinds of communications: printed, pictured, recorded and even electronically stored.

(a) Liber