The word library is derived from a French word "Librairie"; Latin "liber" = book. The library plays an important role in our academic and social lives. Library is an organized collection of information resources made accessible to a defined community for reference or borrowing and this collection of information may be in the form of books, newspapers, CD’s, journals and research papers etc. library provides us physical or digital access to material, and may be a physical building or room, or a virtual space, or both containing collection of informative material. A library can be of different types like, school library, college library, office library or community library etc. and collection in a library may vary from books, periodicals, newspapers, manuscripts, films, maps, prints, documents, microform, CDs, cassettes, videotapes, DVDs, Blue-ray Discs, e-books, audio books, databases, and other formats. Libraries range in size from a few shelves of books to several million items.

Libraries offer free education and entertainment to the masses which can be a student, a work professional or a common person of a community. It doesn't matter what your economic status is, you can come in and have free access to books that can inform and transform you. Though the use of school/college and research libraries is limited only to the students of that particular school/college but state and community libraries are open for all and anyone can avail the benefits of these during working hours. It would not be wrong to say that a library is the store-house for books of all kinds and on all subjects under the one roof. A good modern library usually subscribes to practically all the important newspapers and periodicals so that these are made available to all those interested in these information sources.

Books, newspapers and periodicals are the main features of a library and they represent the endeavours, achievements and glory of writers, statesmen, scientists, philosophers and saints and one can learn a lot from these. A library can act as a local museum of sorts, displaying the type of information which simply can't be experienced on an online library through a computer or an I-pad. A library is not just a source for reading books and newspapers, in fact, it means a lot more than that. It should be a repository for local history, currently collected in a haphazard and voluntary manner by local groups who often lack the facilities to do so adequately. A library is a soul-nourishing place for people of any age, and a natural focal point for the meeting of minds.

History of Libraries

The history of the libraries can be traced to way back during 2600 BC. The first libraries consisted of archives of the earliest form of writing that included the clay tablets in cuneiform script discovered in Sumer, some dating back to 2600 BC. These written archives mark the end of prehistory and the start of history. The earliest discovered private archives were kept at Ugarit. There is also evidence of libraries at Nippur about 1900 BC and at Nineveh about 700 BC showing a library classification system. Private or personal libraries made up of written books appeared in classical Greece in the 5th century BC. In the 6th century, at the very close of the Classical period, the great libraries of the Mediterranean world remained those of Constantinople and Alexandria.

From the 15th century in central and northern Italy, libraries of humanists and their enlightened patrons provided a nucleus around which an "academy" of scholars congregated in each Italian city of consequence. Tianyi Chamber, founded in 1561 by Fan Qin during the Ming Dynasty, is the oldest existing library in China. In its heyday, it boasted a collection of 70,000 volumes of antique books. The first library classification system was set up during the Han Dynasty. In North America, it is believed that personal collections of books were brought over to the continent by French settlers in the 16th century. The oldest non-personal library on the North American continent was founded at The Jesuit College in Quebec City in 1635. The 17th and 18th centuries include what is known as a golden age of libraries.

During the 17^th and 18^th century some of the more important libraries were founded in Europe, such as the Bodleian Library at Oxford, the British Museum Library in London, the Mazarine Library and the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève in Paris, the Austrian National Library in Vienna, the National Central Library in Florence, the Prussian State Library in Berlin, the ZaÅ‚uski Library in Warsaw and the M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin State Public Library of St Petersburg. The first textbook on library science was published 1808 by Martin Schrettinger. In the 21st century, there has been increasing use of the Internet to gather and retrieve data. The shift to digital libraries has greatly impacted the way people use physical libraries.

Types of Libraries

A library is not just a building where you can go and borrow books for a certain period of time; in fact, it means a lot more than that. There are libraries in a lot of places. A library is a place where you can find books and other informative material to read and borrow for a few days. Libraries can be a great place to improve literacy by running all sorts of fun and helpful things and where you can meet other people who are really enthusiastic about the knowledge. Libraries are informational and are very important in today’s world where a simple internet search can give you many results out of which not even a single may actually meet answer to your question. In that case, a library may come to your rescue where you have loads of informative resources all arranged in a proper manner to make your search more easy and precise. Different types of libraries are:

• National libraries: A national or state library serves as a national repository of information, and has the right of legal deposit, which is a legal requirement that publishers in the country need to deposit a copy of each publication with the library. Every writer or a publisher publishing any new book or copy has to submit a reference copy to these libraries. A national library is not a normal school/college library, unlike a public library; they rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, these also include numerous rare, valuable, or significant works. There are wider definitions of a national library, putting less emphasis on the repository character. Many national libraries cooperate within the National Libraries Section of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) to discuss their common tasks, define and promote common standards and carry out projects helping them to fulfil their duties.
• Academic libraries: An academic library is the one that is generally located on the campuses of schools, colleges and universities and the sole purpose of these libraries is to serve the students and faculty of the particular institution. Some academic libraries, especially those at public institutions, are accessible to members of the general public in whole or in part. These libraries contain books of academic interests, newspapers, journals, various research papers and articles as well as question banks that include question papers from the previous year. Specific course-related resources are usually provided by the library, such as copies of textbooks and article readings held on and are loaned to the students for a short-term only. The academic library provides a quiet study space for students on campus; it may also provide group study space, such as meeting rooms. The library provides a "gateway" for students and researchers to access various resources, both print/physical and digital.
• Research libraries: Another important form of a library is a research library that is expertise collection of materials on one or more subjects for the scientific or scholarly research on a particular topic by individuals. A research library supports scholarly or scientific research and will generally include primary as well as secondary sources. These libraries contain information about a particular topic ranging from the slightest of the information available to the enormous collection available on that particular topic. It will maintain permanent collections and attempt to provide access to all necessary materials. These types of libraries always keep on updating their information sources from time to time. A research library is most often an academic or national library, but a large special library may have a research library within its special field and a very few of the largest public libraries also serve as research libraries. A large university library that contains a lot of research papers, as well as research generals and copies, may be considered a research library.
• Reference libraries: These kinds of libraries are generally found in college, universities and offices. A reference library does not lend books and other items; instead, they must be read at the library itself. There are also few general libraries that have a reference section where all books are available to be read at the library itself and are not lent to anyone under any circumstance and such reference sections are also known as reading rooms. Typically such libraries are used for research purposes. Some items at reference libraries may be historical and even unique or very expensive.
• Special libraries: There are few different kinds of libraries that cannot be classified among any of the above-described types and are referred to as special libraries.  Many private businesses and public organizations, including hospitals, museums, research laboratories, law firms, and many government departments and agencies, maintain their own libraries for the use of their employees in doing specialized research related to their work. For example, a law firm houses various law books for the reference by their employee whenever needed to consult for a case. Depending on the particular institution, special libraries may or may not be accessible to the general public or elements thereof. In more specialized institutions such as law firms and research laboratories, librarians employed in special libraries are commonly specialists in the institution's field rather than generally trained librarians, and often are not required to have advanced degrees in a specifically library-related field due to the specialized content and clientele of the library.  

Importance of Library

A Library is a communal place so adds to the importance of community in our lives. A library offers us education, relaxation and access to all sorts of books, magazines, music and movies that we could never afford to buy. It is a safe place to meet friends, use the internet or get help with school assignments. It is a place where all walks of life may be present, including children, youth, and the aged. In an era where sustainability is becoming a necessity, a library is a provider. A library has a great importance of its own. For a person of average means, it is difficult to purchase more than one or two daily newspapers or monthly magazines, but it is the keen desire of educated people to know all possible shades of opinion as expressed in different newspapers. Also, it is not possible to buy every book that you are interested to read. Hence library provides an effective alternate where you need to pay in a small number of membership fees and you can get to access to a variety of books, newspapers and magazines etc.

Library at home is a great way to keep your favourite reads organized in one place, without them lying around the apartment in messy heaps but it is not possible to have a library at home and also not affordable. Technology has taken over our lives and everything seems to be attainable digitally and so is the information sources. The sad part about online books is that the realness of holding one in your hands is lost. Also, these may cause a great amount of strain on our eyes, though it may be of convenience to constant travellers, there's nothing like a great book that you can leaf through, as opposed to clicking through. It's a relief how libraries are still going strong among those who love good old books. Love for reading doesn't die so easily, even if you are a follower of technology.

Libraries play a very healthy role throughout our life. Libraries provide the students very healthy environment for learning as well as making notes or completing an assignment. Library provides a very calm and disciplined atmosphere which helps students to maintain a good concentration on their studies. Also, students can take reference books which can help them to make some quality notes. Libraries are the only place where we are free from all conventions because reading is absolutely a matter of personal choice. Readers are allowed to read what they like and also read the book according to their own manner. Nobody would check them or disturb them. Since everything is systematic and the atmosphere is calm so students can gain more in less time. One can save time and energy studying in libraries.

Conclusion
Libraries are one of the few places in the world that give even the worst-off people a chance to improve themselves. There are a lot of activities that you can do there. People can learn about depression, alcoholism, personal finances, how to find a job, fix their house. It isn't easy, and you still have to work hard. You have to know English, and you have to spend many hours at it. You can make use of different newspapers and employment news to find a job for you, different books to study and a lot more is there in the library for everyone. Library offers a door for one and all, of every age group. Libraries offer free education and entertainment to the masses. It doesn't matter what your economic status is, you can come in and have free access to books that can inform and transform you. I hope libraries will always be around in some form or other.