Promotional Information

This book demonstrates that the library developed in the rural community of Hagerstown, Maryland, between 1878 and 1920 was similar in many ways to libraries that developed in urban communities as an attempt to propagate culture.

Table of Contents

Dedication Acknowlegments Introduction Hagerstown: From Rural to Urban? Libraries and Librarians in the Nineteenth Century Washington County, Maryland: The Context for Change Library Education and the New Librarian The Maryland Library Scene The New Public Library in a Rural Community The Ideology of Reading Analysis of the Case Study

About the Author

DEANNA B. MARCUM is Director of Public Service and Collection Management at the Library of Congress and president of The Council on Library Resources. An authority on library history, she was formerly the Dean of the School of Library and Information Science at The Catholic University of America.

Reviews

.,."struggles with urban/rural dichotomy and the "search for order" and focuses on the motivations of the library's businessmen-founders and its first librarian, Mary Lemist Titcomb. This study is of more than local interest and should stimulate further research."-Library Journal

?...struggles with urban/rural dichotomy and the "search for order" and focuses on the motivations of the library's businessmen-founders and its first librarian, Mary Lemist Titcomb. This study is of more than local interest and should stimulate further research.?-Library Journal

?A good library history can bring more enjoyment than any book on the practice or theory of librarianship. This book is just such a history.... Marcum has done a fine job...making this a lively readable book...Offers useful insights into American public library development in a key transitional period.?-Wilson Library Bulletin

..."struggles with urban/rural dichotomy and the "search for order" and focuses on the motivations of the library's businessmen-founders and its first librarian, Mary Lemist Titcomb. This study is of more than local interest and should stimulate further research."-Library Journal

"A good library history can bring more enjoyment than any book on the practice or theory of librarianship. This book is just such a history.... Marcum has done a fine job...making this a lively readable book...Offers useful insights into American public library development in a key transitional period."-Wilson Library Bulletin