ABSTRACT
The earliest public libraries were established around 1850, first in the US, and soon after in Britain, to provide greater access to reading materials for broader sectors of the population, which were increasingly literate and eager to read. The services and resources provided by public libraries addressed this need and, in the process, a number of larger social issues relevant at the time. As library collections and patronage continued to grow, the capacity of this arrangement was eventually surpassed, requiring the development of new systems of organizing and planning large public libraries. In the US, where the library as a public institution was most fully embraced, early precedents included academic research libraries associated with colleges and universities, and an assortment of quasi-public subscription libraries and athenaeums. From 1826, the University of Virginia Library, by Thomas Jefferson, was the first public university library in the US and, also, the first freestanding purpose-built library on an American university campus.
