List of destroyed libraries
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''Brandkommando'' following the fall of the Warsaw Uprising Libraries have been deliberately or accidentally destroyed or badly damaged. Sometimes a library is purposely destroyed as a form of cultural cleansing. There are examples of libraries accidentally destroyed by human actions. Others were damaged by natural disasters like earthquakes, floods or accidental fires. Library fires have happened sporadically through the centuries: notable examples are the destruction of the
Library of Alexandria The Great Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. The Library was part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion, which was dedicated to the Muses, t ...
, the destruction of Library of
Nalanda Nalanda (, ) was a renowned ''mahavihara'' (Buddhist monastic university) in ancient Magadha (modern-day Bihar), India.Duchess Anna Amalia Library in
Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...
, Germany. Causes vary from
arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wate ...
to the Sun's rays setting fire to leaflets through the action of a magnifying lens, as happened to a library in
Northam, Devon Northam () is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in Devon, England, lying north of Bideford. The civil parish also includes the villages of Westward Ho!, Appledore, West Appledore, Diddywell, Buckleigh and Silford, and the residentia ...
.


Causes and prevention

In earlier times
mildew Mildew is a form of fungus. It is distinguished from its closely related counterpart, mould, largely by its colour: moulds appear in shades of black, blue, red, and green, whereas mildew is white. It appears as a thin, superficial growth consi ...
was considered a major problem in many libraries, and so the emphasis on library design was to increase air flow by, for example, leaving openings under the shelves in adjoining floors. In a fire the flames would be drawn from floor to floor by the air flow, leading quite easily to the destruction of a whole library rather than just a small part. Advances in technology have reduced the possibility of a library collection being destroyed by fire. These include water sprinklers,
fire door A fire door is a door with a fire-resistance rating (sometimes referred to as a ''fire protection rating'' for closures) used as part of a passive fire protection system to reduce the spread of fire and smoke between separate compartments ...
s, freezers, alarms, smoke detectors, suppression systems, and emergency generators. Older libraries are usually altered by closing up air flow openings and installing fire doors, alarms and sprinklers. Air conditioning reduces the mold problems. These are all essential parts of new library design. There is no recovery possible if a book is burnt, so it is accepted that it is better to put out the fire with water and then dry out the books. As mold destroys paper, the books are frozen until they can be dried. This process will damage the book but not destroy it, and the information will be intact. To reduce the chance of damage from fire, or other causes, and decrease the time needed for recovery after a destructive event, libraries need a disaster management and recovery plan. This can be an ongoing process which will include professional development following updates in technology for key staff, training for the remaining staff, checking and maintaining disaster kits, and review of the disaster plan. In addition, fire-safety investigations are periodically carried out, especially for historical libraries. The
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
, for example, underwent a year-long inspection beginning in 2000. Before the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995, the Library of Congress and all Capitol Hill buildings were exempt from safety regulations.Fineberg, Gail. "Moving Toward a Safer Library. Compliance Office Issues Fire Safety Report," Library of Congress Information Bulletin 60 no. 3, 65, March 2001 Balancing historical preservation and contemporary safety standards proves to be a difficult task for "even a 12-year rehabilitation of LC completed in 1997 did not address many fire hazards". After the Compliance Office inspection, however, the LC announced their wholehearted commitment "to achieving the highest level of safety possible" and "the
Architect of the Capitol The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is the federal agency responsible for the maintenance, operation, development, and preservation of the United States Capitol Complex. It is an agency of the legislative branch of the federal government and is ...
and Library of Congress will report their progress to the Office of Compliance every three months". Information technology is another reason for careful fire protection. With so many computers in libraries there "is a decrease in floor space and an increase in more compact and powerful computer systems" which generate more heat and require the use of many more outlets, increasing the number of potential ignition sources.Fixen, Edward L. and Vidar S. Landa,"Avoiding the Smell of Burning Data," ''Consulting-Specifying Engineer'', May 2006, Vol. 39 Issue 5, p47-51 From as early as the 1950s the potential dangers of computer equipment, and the facilities that house them, was recognized. Thus in 1962 the National Fire Protection Association began developing the first safety standards specifically applicable to electronic computer systems. This standard is called NFPA 75 Protection of Information Technology Equipment. FM Global Data Sheet 5–32 is another standard providing guidelines to protect against not only fire, but also water, power loss, etc.


Human action


Natural disasters


Fire


See also

*
Book burning Book burning is the deliberate destruction by fire of books or other written materials, usually carried out in a public context. The burning of books represents an element of censorship and usually proceeds from a cultural, religious, or politi ...
*
List of book-burning incidents Notable book burnings – the public burning of books for ideological reasons – have taken place throughout history. Antiquity A scroll written by the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah (burnt by King Jehoiakim) About 600 BC, Jeremiah of Anatho ...
* ''
The Enemies of Books ''The Enemies of Books'' is a book on biblioclasts and book preservation by the 19th-century bibliophile and book collector William Blades. The book was first published in 1880 and has been republished in different editions in 1881, 1888, 1896, ...
'' * * Library damage resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake * List of libraries damaged during World War II *
Planned destruction of Warsaw The destruction of Warsaw was Nazi Germany's substantially effected razing of the city in late 1944, after the 1944 Warsaw Uprising of the Polish resistance. The uprising infuriated German leaders, who decided to destroy the city as retaliatio ...
*
Siege of Sarajevo The Siege of Sarajevo ( sh, Opsada Sarajeva) was a prolonged blockade of Sarajevo, the capital of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the Bosnian War. After it was initially besieged by the forces of the Yugoslav ...
(1992–1996) *
List of destroyed heritage This is a list of cultural heritage sites that have been damaged or destroyed accidentally, deliberately, or by a natural disaster, sorted by continent, then by country. Cultural heritage can be subdivided into two main types—tangible and int ...


Further reading


The Bosnian Manuscript Ingathering Project
– A call for Bosnian manuscripts ingathering * Polastron, Lucien X. (2007) ''Libros en Llamas: historia de la interminable destrucción de bibliotecas''. Libraria,

* Knuth, Rebecca. ''Libricide : the regime-sponsored destruction of books and libraries in the twentieth century''. * Polastron, Lucien X. ''Books on fire: the destruction of libraries throughout history''. * Civallero, Edgardo.
When Memory Turns into Ashes... Memoricide During the XX Century
'
DOI
* UNESCO
Lost Memory – Libraries and archives destroyed in the twentieth century

Books on Fire: The Destruction of Libraries Throughout History
Lucien Xavier Polastron. Translated by John E Graham. Inner Traditions. . . *Ovenden, Richard ''Burning the Books''. London: John MurrayBurning the Books by Richard Ovenden review – the libraries we have lost
The Guardian; 31 August 2020; accessed 2020-09-02


References


External links


The Bosnian Manuscript Ingathering Project


{{DEFAULTSORT:Destroyed Libraries Lists of libraries Historical negationism
Libraries A library is a collection of Document, materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or electronic media, digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a ...
*Destroyed History of books Book censorship