Libraries

Can't think of much to say about libraries that I haven't said already.  I was reading that in ancient times people always read aloud, and it was only when the Greeks and Roman introduced reading rooms with several people reading at once that they started reading quietly.  When people move their lips as they read, I guess that's drawing on ancient times.

I was also reading that Christopher Columbus had a son who amassed a huge book collection in his time, when printed books were still fairly new.  Only about a quarter of his books have survived, but they recently found a catalogue he made of the collection, so we know how much he had!  He was a greater man than his psychopathic father.

I remember reading in a Classics Illustrated comic book about Benjamin Franklin how he created Anglo-America's first lending library in Philadelphia. (He also founded things like a fire department and a paid police force.)

The University of Toronto's Robarts library is a great library in an ugly building!  I was doing some research there once, on the fifth floor or so, when there was a tremor.  I didn't recognize it as such, but I recall that I felt uncomfortable for some reason and had to stop my work for a minute.