id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentence	flesch	summary	cache	txt
crl-12829	Dain, Phyllis	Public Libraries as Culture and Social Centers: The Origin of the Concept (Book Review)	1976-03-01	2	.pdf	application/pdf	1408	74	58	On the basis of both his particular point of view and his research-which is stronger for the early nineteenth century than for later years, es- pecially our own time-he sees public li- braries as having been diverted from their legitimate function, the provision of books and a place to read, by a faulty conception of their social role. The object was thus to stimulate somehow the reading of books, and failing that, to make libraries centers of culture or social and entertainment centers-all without evidence of success and in face of a perpetually small reading public and competition from more powerful and more efficient purveyors of culture, social services, and entertainment.	cache/crl-12829.pdf	txt/crl-12829.txt