Editing Public library (section)

==Overview==
The culmination of centuries of advances in the [[printing press]], [[moveable type]], [[paper]], [[ink]], publishing, and distribution, combined with an ever-growing information-oriented [[middle class]], increased commercial activity and consumption, new radical ideas, massive population growth and higher [[literacy]] rates forged the public library into the form that it is today.

Public access to books is not new. [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] made [[scrolls]] in dry rooms available to patrons of the baths, and tried with some success to establish libraries within the [[Roman Empire|empire]]. Public libraries existed in the Roman Empire by the 1st century BC.

In the middle of the 19th century, the push for truly public libraries, paid for by taxes and run by the state gained force. [[Matthew Battles]] states that:
<blockquote>It was in these years of class conflict and economic terror that the public library movement swept through Britain, as the nation's progressive elite recognized that the light of cultural and intellectual energy was lacking in the lives of commoners.<ref name=Battles>Matthew. Library: An Unquiet History. New York, N.Y.: Norton, 2004, p. 135.</ref></blockquote>

Public libraries were often started with a [[donation]], or were bequeathed to [[parish]]es, churches, schools or towns. These social and institutional libraries formed the base of many academic and public library collections of today.<ref name=Katz>Bill, Katz. Dahl's History Of The Book, No. 2. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1995, p. 238.</ref>

The establishment of circulating libraries in the 18th century by [[bookselling|booksellers]] and [[publisher]]s provided a means of gaining profit and creating social centers within the community. The circulating libraries not only provided a place to sell books, but also a place to lend books for a price. These circulating libraries provided a variety of materials including the increasingly popular [[novel]]s. Although the circulating libraries filled an important role in society, members of the middle and upper classes often looked down upon these libraries that regularly sold material from their collections and provided materials that were less sophisticated.

[[Circulating libraries]] also charged a [[Subscription business model|subscription fee]]. However, these fees were set to entice their patrons, providing subscriptions on a yearly, quarterly or monthly basis, without expecting the subscribers to purchase a share in the circulating library. This helped patrons who could not afford to buy books, to be able to borrow books to read, and then return. This also created a more popular demand, as book fees were growing, and more books were being copied. Circulating libraries were very popular; the first one was located in 1725, in [[Edinburgh|Edinburgh, Scotland]], by [[Allan Ramsay (poet)|Allan Ramsay]].

Circulating libraries were not exclusively lending institutions and often provided a place for other forms of commercial activity, which may or may not be related to print. This was necessary because the circulating libraries did not generate enough funds through subscription fees collected from its borrowers. As a commerce venture, it was important to consider the contributing factors such as other goods or services available to the subscribers.<ref name=Raven>Raven, James. "Libraries for sociability: the advance of subscription library." The Cambridge History Of Libraries In Britain And Ireland. 3 vols. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006, p. 251-253.</ref>

The [[Biblioteca Malatestiana|Malatestiana Library]] ({{Langx|it|Biblioteca Malatestiana}}), also known as the Malatesta Novello Library, is a public library dating from 1452 in [[Cesena]], [[Emilia-Romagna]] ([[Italy]]). It was the first [[Europe]]an civic [[library]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stradavinisaporifc.it/cesena.asp |title=Cesena |publisher=Stradavinisaporifc.it |access-date=27 March 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091221210346/http://www.stradavinisaporifc.it/cesena.asp |archive-date=21 December 2009 }}</ref> i.e. belonging to the [[medieval commune|Commune]] and open to everybody. It was commissioned by the Lord of Cesena, [[Malatesta Novello]]. The works were directed by Matteo Nuti of [[Fano]] (a scholar of [[Leon Battista Alberti]]) and lasted from 1447 to 1452.