"These essays explore the role of the library in the life of the reader and the library as a place in the life of its users. They examine libraries as protean objects, constantly and fluidly changing to accommodate social, physical, political, or historic changes in the world at large"--P. [4] of cover. Special issue of the journal, American studies, ISSN 0026-3079, v. 42, no. 3 (fall 2001). Includes bibliographical references.
Contents:
Antebellum libraries in Richmond and New Orleans and the search for the practices and preferences of "real" readers / Emily B. Todd. Sound of the civic : reading noise at the New York Public Library / Ari Kelman -- High culture, low culture : the singular duality of the Library of Congress / Elizabeth Jane Aikin -- Home libraries and the institutionalization of everyday practices among antebellum New Englanders / Ronald J. Zboray and Mary Saracino Zboray -- Reading versus the red bull : cultural constructions of democracy and the public library in cold war Wisconsin / Christine Pawley -- Celebration of health in the Celebration Library / Juris Dilevko and Lisa Gottlieb -- Exploring the American idea at the New York Public Library / Jean L. Preer -- "We have become too tender-hearted" : the language of gender in the public library, 1880-1920 / Jacalyn Eddy -- Roosevelt Presidential Library : a shift in commemoration / Benjamin Hufbauer -- Antebellum libraries in Richmond and New Orleans and the search for the practices and preferences of "real" readers / Emily B. Todd.
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