The libraries in America are huge. Every city has a library and every school and college too. The world famous library of congress is the depository of every kind of reference. It reminds me of the ancient library of Timbuktu. It is fabled to hold all the books of knowledge of the ancient world and was destroyed by the Romans. Libraries are important social artifacts that are reservoirs of knowledge of an age. The mentality of destroying a library seems barbaric until we realize we still hold those values today. Libraries for those in power are still only a means of control. And war leaves no sanctity in it's wake. When the US bombed Iraq it destroyed a society of antiquity. Publicly shared sentiments of bombing Iraq back to the stone age held sway. Defenders of wars may say that museums and artifacts are not targets of war but the subsequent looting is a direct consequence of war. I can imagine that current reservoirs of knowledge are vulnerable to greed and power.
Also, even as they are overflowing with knowledge there is a certain lack of coverage or dearth between these shelves. The Marxist literature are scant amongst these shelves. While self help may cover acreages little of true empowerment shines through. Even while creativity abounds yet true creativity is hard to find. These books are filled with western scholarship while indigenous knowledge and ancient knowledge from Timbuktu are vacantly absent.
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