Library

Libraries preserve information by collection. Organizations may include libraries or libraries may be themselves independent organizations. Library collections therefore are diverse and include physically stored items such as books, periodicals, filed selected magazine articles, photographs and manuscripts; 'recorded' materials on microforms, slides, films, audio tape reels and cassettes, video cassettes, and phonograph records; and electronically stored materials on computer tapes, discs and diskettes. Libraries, along with museums, are the repositories of human culture, indispensable for the preservation and propagation of knowledge. However many general libraries no longer can cope with the flood of information and their services are inefficient and their collections imbalanced or dated. Library services are also abused by students and the general public. For these reasons libraries are both a resource and a burden and care is needed that public library boards or staff do not attempt to become censors of what materials to collect or make available.