National Library Week 2023 - There is More to the Story

Members of university communities use libraries often, whether they are downloading journal articles, borrowing physical books, or using a laptop to take an exam remotely. Now, explore the philosophy, history, and design of libraries starting with this curated list of books from the collections of the UAB Libraries. There is more to our story.

Updated July 7, 2023
U
University of Alabama Birmingham
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Libraries
Höfer, Candida
Paper Book
Libraries are a book producer's dream. Since nobody photographs libraries as beautifully as Hofer, it seemed only natural to dedicate one of her publications to the splendid and intimate cathedrals of knowledge across Europe and the US: the Escorial in Spain, the Whitney Museum in New york, Villa...
The personal librarian
Benedict, Marie
Paper Book
In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture on the New York society scene and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world as she helps build a world-class collection. But...
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu : And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts
Hammer, Joshua.
Ebook
**New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice** To save ancient Arabic texts from Al Qaeda, a band of librarians pulls off a brazen heist worthy of Ocean's Eleven in this "fast-paced narrative that is...part intellectual history, part geopolitical tract, and part out-and-out...
Arthur Alfonso Schomburg, black bibliophile & collector : a biography
Sinnette, Elinor Des Verney.
Paper Book
This is the first full biography of the pioneering black collector whose detective work laid the foundation for the study of black history and culture. Born in Puerto Rico in 1874, Arthur Alfonso Schomburg came to New York militantly active in Caribbean revolutionary struggles. He searched out the...
The librarian of Basra : a true story from Iraq
Winter, Jeanette.
Paper Book
*ALA Notable Children's book 2006 * Celebrated author-illustrator Jeanette Winter weaves a hopeful tale of one woman's courageous book rescue. In the Spring of 2003, Alia Muhammad Baker was the city of Basra's real-life librarian....
Along Came Google
Deanna Marcum, Roger C. Schonfeld
Ebook
An incisive history of the controversial Google Books project and the ongoing quest for a universal digital library Libraries have long talked about providing comprehensive access to information for everyone. But when Google announced in 2004 that it planned to digitize books...
A universal history of the destruction of books : from ancient Sumer to modern-day Iraq
Báez, Fernando
Paper Book
A product of 10 years' research and support from leading American and European universities, A Universal History of the Destruction of Books traces the tragic story which encapsulates: the smashed tablets of ancient Sumer; the widespread looting of libraries in post-war Iraq; the levelling of the...
Dewey : the small-town library cat who touched the world
Myron, Vicki.
Paper Book
Experience the uplifting, "unforgettable" New York Times bestseller about an abandoned kitten named Dewey, whose life in a library won over a farming town and the world -- with over 2 million copies sold! (Booklist) Dewey's story starts in the worst possible way. On...
Information and intrigue : from index cards to Dewey decimals to Alger Hiss
Burke, Colin B.
Ebook
An account of Herbert Field's quest for a new way of organizing information and how information systems are produced by ideology as well as technology. In Information and Intrigue Colin Burke tells the story of one man's plan to revolutionize the world's science information...
Free to all : Carnegie libraries & American culture, 1890-1920
Van Slyck, Abigail Ayres.
Paper Book
Familiar landmarks in hundreds of American towns, Carnegie libraries today seem far from controversial. In Free to All, however, Abigail A. Van Slyck shows that the classical façades and symmetrical plans of these buildings often mask a complex and contentious history. "The...
The library book
Orlean, Susan
Paper Book
A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB PICK A WASHINGTON POST TOP 10 BOOK OF THE YEAR * A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER and NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2018 "A constant pleasure to read...Everybody who loves books...
Cruising the Library : Perversities in the Organization of Knowledge
Adler, Melissa
Ebook
Cruising the Library examines the ways in which library classifications have organized sexuality and sexual perversion. The author studies the Library of Congress Subject Headings and Classification, as well as the Library of Congress's Delta Collection, a restricted collection of obscenity until...
The book thieves : the Nazi looting of Europe's libraries and the race to return a literary inheritance
Rydell, Anders
Paper Book
By turns fascinating, harrowing, yet ultimately uplifting, this is the story of the Nazis' systematic pillaging of Europe's libraries, and the heroic efforts of the few librarians now working to return the stolen books to their owners. In the wake of one of History's most expansive cultural crimes,...
The library : a fragile history
Pettegree, Andrew
Paper Book
Perfect for book lovers, this is a fascinating exploration of the history of libraries and the people who built them, from the ancient world to the digital age.   Famed across the known world, jealously guarded by private collectors, built up over...
A History of Medical Libraries and Medical Librarianship
Kronenfeld, Michael R
Ebook
A History of Medical Libraries and Librarianship in the United States: From John Shaw Billingsto the Digital Era presents a history of the profession from the beginnings of the Army Surgeon General's Library in 1836 to today's era of the digital health sciences library. The purpose of this book...
The librarian stereotype : deconstructing perceptions and presentations of information work
Pagowsky, Nicole
Paper Book
The rule, the Bible, and the council : the library of the Benedictine Abbey at Praglia
Gisolfi, Diana.
Ebook
The Rule, the Bible, and the Council focuses on the decoration of a Benedictine library conceived and executed within a few years of the conclusion of the Council of Trent. The Abbey at Praglia, near Padua, commissioned work from Paolo Veronese and Tintoretto as well as Battista Zelotti. The authors...
Hidden treasure : the National Library of Medicine
Sappol, Michael.
Paper Book
Founded 175 years ago, the National Library of Medicine is the world's largest medical library, with more than 17 million items dating from the 11th century to the present in its holdings. Today it is home to a rich worldwide heritage of objects, from the rarest early medical books to...
Memory's library : medieval books in early modern England
Summit, Jennifer.
Paper Book
In Jennifer Summit's account, libraries are more than inert storehouses of written tradition; they are volatile spaces that actively shape the meanings and uses of books, reading, and the past. Considering the two-hundred-year period between 1431, which saw the foundation of Duke Humfrey's famous...
Revolting librarians redux : radical librarians speak out
Roberto, K. R.
Paper Book
"Revolting librarians aren't defined by what they are, they are defined by what they do. In fact, it's not even what they do, but how they do it"--Katia Roberto and Jessamyn West, in the Preface. This compilation of witty, insightful, and readable writings on the various aspects of...
Burning books and leveling libraries : extremist violence and cultural destruction
Knuth, Rebecca
Paper Book
Whether the product of passion or of a cool-headed decision to use ideas to rationalize excess, the decimation of the world's libraries occurred throughout the 20th century, and there is no end in sight. Cultural destruction is, therefore, of increasing concern. In her previous book...
Mudie's circulating library and the Victorian novel
Griest, Guinevere L.
Paper Book
Index, a history of the : a bookish adventure from medieval manuscripts to the digital age
Duncan, Dennis (Dennis J. B.)
Paper Book
Most of us give little thought to the back of the book--it's just where you go to look things up. But as Dennis Duncan reveals in this delightful and witty history, hiding in plain sight is an unlikely realm of ambition and obsession, sparring and politicking, pleasure and play. In the pages of...
Barbarians at the gates of the public library : how postmodern consumer capitalism threatens democracy, civil education and the public good
D'Angelo, Ed.
Paper Book
Barbarians at the Gates of the Public Library is a philosophical and historical analysis of how the rise of consumerism has led to the decline of the original mission of public libraries to sustain and promote democracy through civic education. Through a reading of historical figures such as Plato,...
Libraries in the ancient world
Casson, Lionel
Paper Book
This delightful book tells the story of ancient libraries from their very beginnings, when 'books' were clay tablets and writing was a new phenomenon. Renowned classicist Lionel Casson takes us on a lively tour, from the royal libraries of the most ancient Near East, through the private and public...
The happy bookers : a playful history of librarians and their world from the stone age to the distant future
Armour, Richard
Paper Book
Sacred stacks
Maxwell, Nancy Kalikow
Paper Book
"Librarians serve a higher purpose that no amount of digitization or computerization can ever replace...Libraries have survived and will continue to thrive in the future, because they fulfill eternal needs for people."--Nancy Kalikow Maxwell from the Preface Librarianship as a calling is a...
The Library of Alexandria : centre of learning in the ancient world
MacLeod, Roy M.
Paper Book
The Library of Alexandria was one of the greatest cultural adornments of the late ancient world, containing thousands of scrolls of Greek, Hebrew and Mesopotamian literature and art and artefacts of ancient Egypt. This book demonstrates that Alexandria became - through the contemporary reputation of...
Creating French culture : treasures from the Bibliothèque nationale de France
Tesnière, Marie-Hélène.
Paper Book
From monastic cloisters in the time of Charlemagne to the book-lined studies of 20th-century authors, this study presents an overview of the literary and artistic world in France. The Bibliotheque nationale de France, rich in collections of illuminated manuscripts, books, medals, maps and prints,...

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