The Earliest Surviving Library Catalogues Circa 2,000 BCE

Two cuneiform tablets found at Nippur, (Mesopotamia; now Iraq) are inscribed with a list of Sumerian works of literature in no apparent order.  One has 68 titles, the other 48 works.  These represent the earliest surviving library catalogues. 

The Earliest Surviving Detailed Bibliographical Entries Circa 1,400 BCE

Cuneiform tablets discovered at Hattusas (Hattusa), capital of the Hittite Empire in the Bronze Age, contain detailed bibliographical entries.

Knowledge as Power: The Earliest Systematically Collected Library as Distinct from an Archive 668 BCE – 627 BCE

In an effort to collect all knowledge, Ashurbanipal, King of Assyria during these years, collected a library at Nineveh, of 20,000–30,000 clay tablets written in cuneiform script. The library was discovered at Nineveh by Austen Henry Layard in 1849, and is considered the earliest systematically collected library, as distinct from a government archive. It is thought that a significant portion of the library survived to the present because the clay tablets were baked in fires set during the Median sack of Nineveh in 612 CE.

The Library of Aristotle 384 BCE – 321 BCE

The library of Aristotle may be the first private library concerning which there is considerable discussion among early commentators

The Royal Library of Alexandria: The Largest Collection of Recorded Information in the Ancient World Circa 300 BCE

The Royal Library of Alexandria is founded under the reign of Ptolemy I Soter or Ptolemy II. The number of papyrus rolls preserved at the library at Alexandria is unknown. It has been speculated that at its peak the Alexandrian library may have preserved 400,000 to 700,000 papyrus rolls—the largest collection of recorded information in the ancient world. Though the number of papyrus rolls (scrolls) at Alexandria was very large— especially relative to other libraries of its time— a typical papyrus roll probably contained a text about the length of one book of Homer.

The Dead Sea Scrolls 300 BCE – 68 CE

This is the date range of the Dead Sea Scrolls which were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves near Khirbet Qumran, on the northwestern shores of the Dead Sea. Historical, paleographic, and

linguistic evidence, as well as carbon-14 dating, established that the scrolls and the Qumran ruin dated from the third century BCE to 68 CE. Dating from the late Second Temple Period, when Jesus of Nazareth lived, the Dead Sea Scrolls are older than any other surviving manuscripts of the Hebrew Scriptures, except for the Nash Papyrus, by almost one thousand years. (The Nash Papyrus is also noticed in this database.)

The Beginnings of Philology Circa 280 BCE

The first critical edition of Homer was made by Zenodotus of Ephesus, first superintendant of the Library of Alexandria, who lived during the reigns of the first two Ptolemies, and was at the height of his reputation about 280 BCE. His colleagues in librarianship were Alexander of Aetolia and Lycophron of Chalcis, to whom were allotted the tragic and comic writers respectively, Homer and other epic poets being assigned to Zenodotus.

Destroying Most Records of the Past Along with 460, or More, Scholars 213 BCE – 206 BCE

Following the advice of his chief adviser Li Si, Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China, orders most previously existing books to be burned in order to avoid scholars' comparison of his reign with the past.

The Origins of Bibliography Circa 200 BCE

Kallimachos (Callimachus), a renowned poet and head of the Alexandrian Library, compiles a catalogue of its holdings which he calls Pinakes (Tables or Lists). 

Supposedly extending to 120 papyrus rolls, this catalogue amounted to a systematic survey of Greek literature up to its time. It also represented the origins of bibliography. Only a few fragments survived the eventual destruction of the library, together with a scattering of references to it in other ancient works.

The Very Long Process of Canonization of the Hebrew Bible Circa 200 BCE – 200 CE

Evidence suggests that the process of canonization of the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) occurred over several centuries, probably between 200 BCE and 200 CE.

The Library of Pergamum (Pergamon) 197 BCE – 159 BCE

Rulers of Pergamum (Pergamon; now Bergama in Turkey) found a major library. Whether this was in competition with the Alexandrian Library or just a worthy independent effort remains the subject of historical speculation.

The Earliest Bibliographical Classification System Circa 53 BCE – 23 CE

The Seven Epitomes is thought to have been compiled by the Chinese astronomer, historian and editor Liu Xin (Liu Hsin) during the Xin Dynasty. A by-product of a collation project commissioned by the Emperor Ch'eng Ti of the Han Dynasty, it was the catalogue of all collated books housed in the libraries of the Inner Court at the time, initiated under the supervision of Liu Xiang (Liu Hsiang). These had been recovered after the burning of the books under the rule of the First Emperor Qin Shi Huang in 213-206 BCE.

Julius Caesar Introduces a Calendar and Plans a Great Library 46 BCE

Julius Caesar introduces the Julian calendar.

The Julian Calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months, and a leap day is added every four years, so the average Julian year is 365.25 days. The calendar remained in use into the 20th century in some countries and is still used by many national Orthodox churches. "However with this scheme too many leap days are added with respect to the astronomical seasons, which on average occur earlier in the calendar by about 11 minutes per year, causing it to gain a day about every 128 years. It is said that Caesar was aware of the discrepancy, but felt it was of little importance."

The First-Known Public Library in Rome Circa 37 BCE

Gaius Asinius Pollio, general, lawyer, orator, poet, friend of Virgil and Horace, and Consul 40 BCE, having amassed a fortune in his conquest of Dalmatia and/or campaigns in Parthia, consolidates several book collections already in Rome, possibly including those of Varro and Sulla, to form a library in the Temple of Liberty (Atrium Libertatis) on the Aventine Hill.

Book Trade and Libraries in the Roman Empire Circa 30 BCE

"By the end of the Roman Republic the institutions and processes that govern and guard the transmission of the written word were already in existence, and under Augustus and his successors they were refined and consolidated. The book trade became more important, and we soon hear of the names of established booksellers:

The Emperor Augustus Builds Two Public Libraries 28 BCE

Beginning with Augustus, the Roman emperors took over the task of building libraries in Rome. Actually, Augustus was responsible for two public libraries. The first, in the Temple of Apollo, was begun in 36 B.C.

and dedicated in 28. B.C. It was divided into two separate collections, one Greek and one Latin. Pompeius Macer was the first librarian, and Julius Hyginus, a noted grammarian, also served in that capacity

Seneca Denounces Book Collectors and Even the Library of Alexandria Circa 49 CE

Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature, Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca, or Seneca the Younger) denounces book collectors, and even denounces the Royal Library of Alexandria

The Only Library Preserved Intact from Roman Times 79 CE

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius destroys the Roman coastal city of Herculaneum, preserving in lava the important library of papyrus rolls in the so-called “Villa of the Papyri”—a magnificent home thought to have been built by Julius Caesar’s father-in-law, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus.

Probably the Greatest, and Certainly the Longest Lasting of the Roman Libraries 114 CE

After the Libraries of Alexandria and Pergamum (Pergamon), the Bibliotheca Ulpia, or the Ulpian Library, was the most famous library of antiquity and, of all the Roman libraries, the only one to survive at least until the fall of Rome in the mid-fifth century. It was founded by the Emperor Trajan in his Forum.

Pamphilius Establishes a Library and Scriptorium 200 CE – 300 CE

Pamphilius of Caesarea (d. 409) devoted his life to searching out and obtaining copies of manuscript texts. He established a library that may have contained 30,000 manuscripts and a scriptorium at a Christian theological school at Caesarea Palaestina, a town on the coast of Israel between Tel Aviv and Haifa. Because of this library Caesarea was the capital of Christian scholarship in the 3rd century.

The Imperial Library at Nicomedia 284 CE – 305 CE

The Emperor Diocletian establishes an Imperial Library at Nicomedia, the eastern capital city of the Roman Empire, but little information about this has survived.

The Role of Books in the Rule of the Earliest Christian Monastery 318 CE – 348 CE

The Rule of St. Pachomius (Pakhom, Pachome and Pakhomius, Παχώμιος), founder of the community or cenobitic organization, in which male or female monastics lived together and had their possessions in common under the leadership of an abbot or abbess, included rules for the operation of a monastic library:

The Codex Vaticanus Circa 350 CE

The Codex Vaticanus, a 4th century uncial manuscript in Greek of the Septuagint and the New Testament, is one of the two extant 4th century manuscripts of the Old and New Testament in the form used by the early Christians, the other being the Codex Sinaiticus.

The Codex Sinaiticus Circa 350 CE

The Codex Sinaiticus (formerly known as the Codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus) was written in Koine Greek in the mid-4th century, by at least three scribes. The codex was written in Biblical majuscule in scriptio continua, without word division, punctuation or pagination; it incorporates two ancient methods for numbering its quires, and it also incorporates a version of the system of numbering the paragraphs of the Gospels developed by Eusebius of Caesarea.  It was written in a four-column format except for the poetical and wisdom literature in which a two-column format was used. This is the only surviving biblical manuscript employing the four-column page format, and it has been suggested that this is reminiscent of the roll format rather than the codex. It is thought that the codex was written somewhere in Asia Minor, Palestine (Caesarea?) or Egypt.

Foundation of the Imperial Library of Constantinople Circa 357 CE

The emperor Constantius II, son of Constantine I, aware of the deterioration of texts written on papyrus rolls,  begins the formation of the Imperial Library of Constantinople by having the Judeo-Christian scriptures copied from papyrus rolls onto the more permanent medium of parchment or vellum. The person in charge of the library under Constantius II is thought to have been Themestios, who directed a team of scribes and librarians who copied the texts of papyrus rolls onto parchment or papyrus codices. It is probable that this library preserved selected texts that survived the burning of the Library of Alexandria, though the historical accounts of the destruction of the Alexandrian Library are contradictory. It has been estimated that the Imperial Library of Constantinople eventually grew to about 100,000 manuscript volumes, presumably bookrolls and codices.

Early Christians May Have Destroyed What Remained of the Alexandrian Library Because of its Pagan Contents 391 CE

According to the the monk historian and theologian Tyrannius Rufinus and the historian of the Christian church Salminius Hermias Sozomenus (Σωζομενός Sozomen), Theophilus of Alexandria, Patriarch of Alexandria, discovered a hidden pagan temple. He and his followers mockingly displayed the pagan artifacts to the public which offended the pagans enough to provoke an attack on the Christians. The Christian faction counter-attacked, forcing the pagans to retreat to the Serapeum, which at that time may have housed what remained of the Alexandrian Library.  In response to this conflict the emperor sent Theophilus a letter ordering that the offending pagans be pardoned, but giving permission to destroy the temple and its pagan contents. According to church historian Socrates Scholasticus or Socrates of Constantinople, the emperor granted permission to destroy the temple in response to heavy solicitation by Theophilus.

The Imperial Library of Constantinople is Damaged by Fire 475 CE

"The twelfth-century epitomist Joannes Zonaras relays an old and possibly accurate estimate that in 475 when the [Imperial] library [of Constantinople] was damaged by fire it contained 120,000 volumes, which suggests that the library grew steadily during the first century after its founding" (Gamble, Books and Readers in the Early Church. A Study of Early Christian Texts [1995] 169).

St. Benedict Founds the Abbey at Monte Cassino and Later Formulates his Rule 529

Benedict of Nursia, better known as St. Benedict (San Benedetto da Norcia), founds the Abbey at Monte Cassino in Compania, Italy.

Benedict's Rule, formulated near the end of his life (547), based the foundations of monastic life on prayer, study, and the assistance of the sick. Benedict's rule was influenced by the rule of John Cassian who founded the first monasteries in Europe near Marseille, southern Gaul, about 415 CE.

The Scriptorium and Library at the Vivarium Circa 560

A Roman Senator, and former magister officiorum to Theodoric the Great, the Ostrogothic ruler of Rome, after the execution of Boethius, Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus retired and formed a school and monastery at his estate at Squillace in the far south of Italy. He named it the Vivarium, after the fishponds which were a "feature of its civilized lifestyle." The monastery included a purpose-built scriptorium, intended to collect, copy, and preserve texts. This was the

last effort, at the very close of the Classical period, to bring Greek learning to Latin readers, a concern shared by Boethius who had been executed in 524.

Foundation of the Monastery and Library at Bobbio 614

Saint Columbanus founds the Abbazia di San Colombano at Bobbio, in the province of Piacenza and the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.

Bobbio became famous as a center of resistance to Arianism. The abbey library, founded by Columbanus with manuscripts that he brought from Ireland and treatises which he personally wrote, became one of the greatest libraries of the Middle Ages. Bernhard Bischoff points out:

A Library Containing "54,000 Rolls" 627

Under the reign of Chinese emperor Taizong of Tang (Chinese: 唐太宗; pinyin: Táng Tàizōng, Wade-Giles: T'ai-Tsung)  a library is erected in the Chinese capital containing "some fifty-four thousand rolls" (Carter, Invention of Printing in China, 2nd ed [1955] 37).

One of the Oldest, Largest, and Most Signficant Medieval Libraries 719

The Abbey contains one of the oldest, largest and most significant medieval libraries, consisting of 2100 codices. It is the only major medieval convent library still standing in its original location. 400 of the codices in this library date before 1000 CE. These manuscripts are being made available on the Internet in a virtual library, the Codices Electronici Sangallenses.

The Foundation of English History Circa 731

A Benedictine monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow, the Venerable Bede completes Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People). This work is the founding document of English History. 

The Oldest Surviving Book in the German Language 765 – 775

The Abrogans, or Codex Abrogans, a dictionary of synonyms or glossary or word-list from Latin into Old High German, is the oldest surviving book in the German language. Abrogans ("humble") is the first word on the word-list.

The codex is preserved in the library of the Abbey of St. Gall. (St. Gall, Stiftsbibliothek, Codex 911).  A digital facsimile is available as part of the Codices Electronic Sangallenses (CESG) virtual library project. 

Declined to About 35,000 Volumes Circa 790

By this time the Imperial Library at Constantinople is thought to have to declined to about 35,000 manuscript volumes.

Some of the Earliest Library Catalogs Circa 800

It is thought that about this time library catalogs were introduced in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, and in other medieval Islamic libraries, where books were organized into specific genres and categories.

The Most Famous Manuscript of the Iliad Circa 950

The most famous Greek manuscript of the Homeric Iliad, Venetus A, is regarded by some as the best text of the epic. It also preserves several layers of annotations, glosses, and commentaries known as the "A scholia."  These are thought to preserve editorial comments made by scholars at the Royal Library of Alexandria centuries earlier. The manuscript, which was most probably written in Constantinople, also includes a summary of the early Greek Epic Cycle which is considered the most important source of information on those lost poems. 

The Earliest Extant Complete Text of the Bible in Hebrew Circa 1010

Norman Crusaders Sack Constantinople and Burn the Imperial Library 1204

In the Fourth Crusade Norman crusaders, attempting to form a Latin Empire, sacked Constantinople, almost completely destroying the city. They burned the Imperial Library which preserved much of the knowledge of the ancient world.

Formation of the University of Paris 1257

Robert de Sorbon, a chaplain and confessor to King Louis IX, founds the Collège de Sorbonne, or University of Paris. Starting with 20 theology students, and virtually no library except a small collection of manuscripts, the college quickly built a prodigious reputation as a center for learning, and rapidly expanded its library mainly through donations, including the library of Robert de Douai, physician to Queen Marguerite

Origins of the Vatican Library in the Papal Library 1303

On the death of Pope Boniface VIII, the papal library, the eventual basis of the Vatican Library, was moved to Avignon.  During Boniface's papacy the library contained "from 483 to 645 volumes" (Rouse & Rouse, Authentic Witnesses: Approaches to Medieval Texts and Manuscripts [1991] 341).

Medieval Union Catalogue of Manuscripts Circa 1320

Oxford Franciscans compile, on the basis of on-site surveys, the Registrum Anglie de libris doctorum et auctorum ueterum — a manuscript union catalogue of some 1400 manuscript books in England, Scotland and Wales. It lists the works of 98 authors owned by 189 monastic or cathedral libraries.

The Largest Library in Europe 1328

The Library of the Sorbonne, the largest in Europe, contains 1722 volumes of manuscripts during this year.

The First "Public" Library in Renaissance Europe 1444

the liTrary at the Dominican Convent of San Marco, designed by Michelozzo. (View Larger)

Foundation of the library at the Dominican Convent of San Marco in Florence by Cosimo de' Medici, designed by Michelozzo.

One of the Earliest Works on Librarianship 1627

While a medical student Gabriel Naudé publishes one of the earliest works on librarianship: Avis pour dresser une bibliothèque.

The First Book on Librarianship in English 1650

Scottish minister and writer, John Dury, Keeper of the Royal Library from the death of Charles I until the Restoration, publishes The Reformed Librarie Keeper, the first English book on “library economy.”

The Bibliotheque Nationale Opens to the Public 1692

Having been expanded under Louis XIV, the Bibliothèque national de France first opens to the public.

Founding the Library Company of Philadelphia 1731

Benajmin Franklin and a group of his friends seeking social, economic, intellectual and political advancement, form a discussion group called "the Junto." They establish the Library Company of Philadelphia as a subscription library.

The Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776

Philadelphia printer John Dunlap prints approximately 200 copies of The Declaration of Independence as a broadside.

The Origin of the Library of Congress April 24, 1800

President John Adams signs legislation providing $5000 to purchase books as necessary for the “use of Congress.”

This was the origin of the Library of Congress. The Library was originally housed in the Capitol building.

The Library of Congress is Destroyed During the War of 1812 August 25, 1814

During the War of 1812 British Troops set fire to the U.S. Capitol building, burning, among other things, the Library of Congress, which at this time contains 3,000 volumes.

Congress Buys Thomas Jefferson's Library January 1815

Congress appropriates $23,950 for Thomas Jefferson's library of 6,487 books which he had collected over the previous fifty years, laying a new intellectual foundation, universal in scope, for the Library of Congress.

The purchase price was estimated to be half of the value that the books would have achieved at auction.

The First Extensive Catalogue of the Library of Congress November 1815

George Watterson, Librarian of Congress, publishes Catalogue of the Library of the United States. To Which is Annexed a Copious Index, Alphabeticaly Arranged.

This work of 170 pages and 32 pages of index, was printed for Congress by Jonathan Elliot and issued from Washington. It represents the catalogue of the library of Thomas Jefferson, the foundation of the Library of Congress.

Panizzi's 91 Rules for Standardizing the Cataloguing of Books 1841

Antonio Panizzi, Keeper of the Department of Printed Books at the British Museum (now the British Library), publishes 91 Rules for Compilation of the Catalogue. 

These rules represented the first attempt to standardize cataloguing.  They appeared in the Catalogue of Printed Books in the British Museum, Volume 1, pp. v-ix. Remarkably only this single volume, covering the letter A ,was published under Panizzi's direction. The full catalogue did not begin to appear until 1881.

The Public Libraries Act of 1850 1850

The Public Libraries Act 1850 (13 & 14 Vict c.65) , an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament, first gives local boroughs the power to establish free public libraries.

Early Proposal for a National Union Catalogue 1852

Charles C. Jewett, librarian of the Smithsonian Institution, publishes On the Construction of Catalogues of Libraries and Their Publication by Means of Separate Stereotyped Titles With Rules and Examples.

Keyword in Context Indexing 1856

Bibliographer Andrea Crestadoro, an acquaintance of Anthony Panizzi, exasperated with delays in production of the British Museum Catalogue of Printed Books, publishes anonymously The Art of Making Catalogues of Libraries , or a Method to Obtain a Most Perfect Complete and Satisfactory Printed Catalogue of the British Museum Library by a Reader Therein.

Dewey Decimal Classification 1876

Melvil Dewey publishes the Dewey Decimal Classification in his anonymous Classification and Subject Index for Cataloguing and Arranging the Books and Pamphlets of a Library.

The Last Library Cataloguing Code Written by One Person 1876

Charles Ammi Cutter publishes Rules for a Printed Dictionary Catalogue, the last library cataloguing code written by one person.

ALA is Founded October 6, 1876

The American Library Association (ALA) is founded in Philadelphia.

Standardization of Library Catalogue Cards 1877

The American Library Association, urged on by Melvil Dewey, standardizes the size of library catalogue cards.

Index Medicus Begins 1879

Under the direction of John Shaw Billings, the Library of the Surgeon General's Office (to be redesignated in 1956 the National Library of Medicine) begins publication of the Index Medicus -- an effort to index all of medical periodical literature.

The Library of the Future 1883

Charles Ammi Cutter, Librarian of the Boston Atheneum, and author of Cutter Expansive Classification, publishes The Buffalo Public Library in 1983. In it he predicts how a library will operate one hundred years into the future.

The Most Widely Used Library Classification System 1885

Melvyl Dewey publishes the second edition of his Dewey Decimal Classification under his own name. The Dewey Decimal Classification became the world's most widely used library classification system.

The Library of Congress Classification 1897

Before he is appointed Librarian of Congress, Herbert Putnam, with the assistance of Charles Ammi Cutter, develops the Library of Congress Classification (LCC). This and the Dewey Decimal Classification become the most widely used systems of library classification.

LC Cards 1901

The Library of Congress begins making printed Library of Congress catalogue cards (LC cards) available to libraries, thus promoting the development of catalogue card systems.

The International Federation of Library Associations is Founded 1927

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is founded in Edinburgh, Scotland.

One of the Earliest Projects in Library Automation April 1949

Librarian Sanford Larkey publishes The Army Medical Library Research Project at the Welch Medical Library. This was one of the earliest projects in library automation and information retrieval. 

Applying Computer Methods to Library Cataloguing and Research June 24 – June 27, 1952

At a meeting of the Medical Library Association Sanford Larkey reports on advances in the Welch Medical Library Indexing Project.

This project was probably the earliest effort to apply computer methods, including punched card tabulating, in library cataloguing and information retrieval.

The Uniterm Indexing System 1953

Mortimer Taube proposes the Uniterm Indexing system.

Early Library Information Retrieval System 1954

Harley Tillet builds the perhaps the first operating library information retrieval systems on a general purpose computer (IBM 701) at the Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS) at Inyokern, California, later called China Lake.

Machine Methods for Information Searching 1955

On the completion of the Welch Medical Library Indexing Project, five authors, including Eugene Garfield, issue the Final Report on Machine Methods for Information Searching.

The Foundation of Citation Analysis July 15, 1955

Eugene Garfield publishes "Citation Indexes for Science: A New Dimension in Documentation through Association of Ideas," Science, Vol. 122, No. 3159, 108-11. This paper may be the foundation of "bibliometrics" or citation analysis.

One of the First Data Publishing and Retrieval Systems 1962

Inforonics develops and maintains "one of the first data publishing and retrieval systems used by organizations such as the U.S. Library of Congress and the Boston Public Library."

Science Citation Index 1964

Eugene Garfield publishes the first Science Citation Index in five printed volumes, indexing 613 journals and 1.4 million citations, using the method of citation analysis.

Two years later Science Citation Index became available on magnetic tape.

The MARC Cataloguing Standard 1965 – 1968

Programmer and systems analyst Henriette Avram completes the Library of Congress MARC (Machine Readable Cataloging) Pilot Project, creating the foundation for the national and international data standard for bibliographic and holdings information in libraries. The MARC standards consist of the MARC formats, which are standards for the representation and communication of bibliographic and related information in machine-readable form, and related documentation. . . . Its data elements make up the foundation of most library catalogs.

OCLC is Founded 1967

The colleges and universities in the state of Ohio found the Ohio College Library Center (OCLC) to develop a computerized system in which the libraries of Ohio academic institutions can share resources and reduce costs.

After the bibliographical database expanded far beyond the state of Ohio it was renamed Online Computer Library Center, retaining the same initials.

The First Digital Library July 4, 1971

Michael S. Hart sends the digitized text of the American Declaration of Independence to everyone on a computer network. This marks the beginning of Project Gutenberg—the first digital library.

A Digital Library of Greek Literature 1972

Marianne McDonald, a graduate student in classics at the University of California, San Diego, proposes and initially funds the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, a digital library of Greek literature. Within 30 years the project was fully realized:

Nexis 1980

Mead Data Central introduces the NEXIS service, providing online texts of various print publications.

U.S. Newspaper Program Microfilms Newspapers 1982

In cooperation with the Library of Congress, The National Endowment for the Humanities begins funding the United States Newspaper Program— "a cooperative national effort among the states and the federal government to locate, catalog, and preserve on microfilm newspapers published in the United States from the eighteenth century to the present."

The National Center for Biotechnology Information is Founded November 4, 1988

Recognizing the importance of computerized information processing methods for the conduct of biomedical research, Senator and Representative Claude Pepper sponsors legislation that establishes the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) as a division of the National Library of Medicine (NLM).

First Library of Digital Images on the Internet 1993

Fred Mintzer and colleagues at IBM photograph and develop a database of about 20,000 digital images for the Vatican Library. It is the first library of digital images on the Internet.

LC Launches RSS December 18, 2006

The Library of Congress launches a series of news feeds using RSS (Really Simple Syndication) technology.

The Universal Digital Library has Scanned over 1,000,000 Books 2007

The Universal Digital Library has scanned over 1,000,000 books, surpassing its original goal set in 2001.

The World Digital Library Launches April 21, 2009

UNESCO and 32 partner institutions launch the World Digital Library, a web site that features unique cultural materials from libraries and archives around the world. The site includes manuscripts, maps, rare books, films, sound recordings, and prints and photographs.