Since their beginning, more than 5,000 years ago, libraries have survived civilizations, wars and natural disasters. As knowledge repositories, they played an important role in shaping mankind as well as their lives. The importance of the library’s role in human history is unquestionable, and can be proved from many aspects. Certainly, the most important role was to bring knowledge to the masses. At first, that was limited strictly to rich and important men. During The Middle Ages, the knowledge was passed on to the monasteries, and that was the beginning of the enlightenment. With Gutenberg’s invention, it all started to prosper. Thanks to the knowledge libraries kept it was possible for the mankind to thrive and create the world we live in today. Since the Renaissance, libraries have become the centres of culture. Scientists, philosophers and writers went to libraries to explore the old knowledge and create a new one. In the 19th century, after the French Revolution, libraries started to open their gates to common people and it was the beginning of the libraries we know today.
During times of war, libraries were always a target. The most effective way of ethnic cleansing was erasing nation’s history, which was usually held in libraries. Many libraries throughout history suffered enormous damages – perhaps the best example is the destruction of the Library of Alexandria. There are also many recent examples, such as the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina destroyed during the Siege of Sarajevo in 1992, or the destruction of several libraries in Baghdad in 2003. However, even in those difficult times of war, librarians remained positive and gave their best to keep on working. They educated, provided leisure time and even sheltered those in need. American Library Association, for example, collected books from around the country and dispatched them to their soldiers on the battlefields of Europe during World ...