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Ancient Libraries

Join us in person at Central Library as we explore the fascinating, mysterious, and sometimes dark history of libraries, from the ancient world to the modern, and help us investigate the many ways they have shaped (and have been shaped by) the people who use them.

Description: From Ancient Egypt and the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome, through Imperial China and Medieval India, all the way up to our day, libraries have played a pivotal role in the development and preservation of knowledge and cultural traditions. Like all institutions, Libraries have been shaped by other historical forces—religion, politics, economics, and colonialism. Libraries also have the power to help shape and reshape these very same forces. Join us in person at Central Library as we explore the fascinating, mysterious, and sometimes dark history of libraries, from the ancient world to the modern, and help us investigate the many ways they have shaped (and have been shaped by) the people who use them.

This program has been approved for one Library Education Unit (LEU) from the Indiana State Library.

Presenter: Christopher Lee Proctor II is a tenure-track member of the library faculty at Indiana University Southeast (New Albany, IN), where he serves as the Coordinator of Access Services and the Campus Accreditation Project Manager. At Southeast, he regularly teaches information literacy classes, while also designing and teaching an honors/graduate course on the history and evolution of information resources from the ancient world to the modern. Christopher has also redesigned and taught the History of Libraries course for the Master of Library & Information Science program at IUPUI. His main research interest is investigating the history and development of libraries as cultural institutions.

Christopher also serves as the 2023 president of the Indiana Library Federation (ILF); the Immediate Past Chair of the Indiana Academic Library Association (IALA); and the Secretary/Treasurer-Elect for the American Library Association’s (ALA) Library History Round Table (LHRT).

Age Group: Adults

Location: Held in the Indianapolis Special Collections Room (ISCR) on the 6th floor within Central Library located at 40 E. St Clair Street, Indianapolis, IN 46204.

Parking: The Central Library has a parking garage available to patrons during their time at the Library. The garage can be accessed on Pennsylvania Street.

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