Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-280) and index.

Alice Crawford -- Edith Hall ; Richard Gameson ; Andrew Pettegree ; Robert Darnton ; David Allan ; John Sutherland -- Marina Warner ; Robert Crawford ; Laura Marcus -- Stephen Enniss ; John P. Wilkin ; James H. Billington. Introduction / The Library through Time. Adventures in ancient Greek and Roman libraries / The image of the medieval library / The Renaissance library and the challenge of print / From printing shop to bookshelves : how books began the journey to Enlightenment libraries / "The advantages of literature" : the subscription library in Georgian Britain / Literature and the library in the nineteenth century / The Library in Imagination. The library in fiction / The library in poetry / The library in film : order and mystery / The Library Now and in the Future. "Casting and gathering" : libraries, archives, and the modern writer / Meanings of the library today / The modern library and global democracy / Part 1. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Part 2. 7. 8. 9. Part 3. 10. 11. 12.

"Tracing what the library has meant since its beginning, examining how its significance has shifted, and pondering its importance in the twenty-first century, significant contributors--including the librarian of the Congress and the former executive director of the HathiTrust--present a cultural history of the library"--Dust jacket flap.