The Living Library

A library (from ancient Greek : biblio, "book"; thk, "deposit") is the place where an organized collection of books is kept and read. There are private libraries - including rich libraries open to the public - and public libraries. Libraries often offer other documents (newspapers, periodicals, sound recordings, video recordings, maps and plans, sheet music) as well as access to the Internet and are sometimes called media or information libraries. The majority of libraries (municipal, university) allow the loan of their documents free of charge. Others, such as the Public Information Library in particular, allow on-site consultation only. They can then be divided into reading rooms, open to the public, and library stores, closed, for the storage of less consulted books. Other spaces, open or not to the public, can be added. In 2010, with more than 144.5 million items, including 21.8 million books, the world's largest library is the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.. Nevertheless, the combined collection of books from both.