[F]or both scholar and general reader, comprehensive bibliographic notes constitute a multilingual gold mine of historical resources on libraries.
Booklist As a history and an assessment of an inestimable resource and a force for good in the world,The Meaning of the Libraryis a timely and thought-provoking compilation.
Patricia Craig, Independent The Meaning of the Libraryis a riveting and ... Read moredeeply satisfying work that is bound to leave the reader not only far more aware of the sociocultural importance of the institution as a reservoir of heritage and learning, but also inspired to think of issues that lie beyond the earthly and temporal realm.
Lois C. Henderson, Bookpleasures.com A marvelous survey of Western libraries and books from Greek and Roman times to today... It is a lovely book, handsomely designed with endnotes, author bios, bibliography, index, and an eight-page, four-color insert-illustrations of ancient and medieval book cabinets.
Wally Wood, Bookpleasures.com These pleasant peregrinations exploring the role that libraries ... have played as preservers, proponents, and providers of culture will appeal widely to library scholars and bibliophiles.
Choice This excellent volume, well produced and with an extensive bibliography, is not standard library history, but it is delightful reading, whether consumed as a whole or used to browse in. It should provide any library historians with new insights into their discipline and can be highly recommended.
Peter Hoare, Library & Information History Each essay is excellently written and researched; each new perspective illuminates a different fact in great and mind-expanding detail... Bibliophiles, especially, will love [The Meaning of the Library] as it focuses attention on the deeper importance book collections hold.
Gretchen Wagner, San Francisco Book Review A wonderfully informative, erudite and entertaining collection of essays.
Alberto Manguel, Times Literary Supplement Show Less