The World’s Most Magnificent Libraries

checking out a burden out or skull or a fish mount is just like checking out a book you present your library card we scan it it's due in two weeks and it's just like checking out a book this is the Alaska resources library and information services and we are in the room that holds the furs mounts and skulls in our collection many of the items are available for the public focus of the collection is Alaskan animals birds and fish it's a there are hundreds of furs probably fifty bird mounts and hundreds of skulls this has a walrus skull which is kind of interesting it's got teeth behind the tusks I didn't realize that until I got to look at the skull it was pretty cool the bear furs are the really popular well bear links and wolf when people encounter this collection they are delighted they owe and awe it sparks their imagination they love having all the choice of the different types of items that we have people who check out these items really very mainly teachers for their Alaska animal component of their curriculum I don't know of anywhere else that they can borrow mounted sandhill crane and just study it up close it's a very unusual program [Music] hello welcome to the Library of Congress the library Congress is the largest library in the world located in Washington DC this collection of over 160 million items is a vast archive of the history of the United States there are over 70 special collections that include rare manuscripts maps sheet music and much more hello I'm Helena's ink M director for collections and also chief of the prints and photographs division this collection of pictures numbers more than 15 million among the rarest pictures in our collection we have the migrant mother the iconic woman representing the entire Great Depression the pictures bring people together they invite you in to look around and explore worlds that you might never be able to see in person hello I am Paulette hazier I am the chief of the geography and map division we have five point five million Maps 80,000 atlases five hundred globes we have Lewis and Clark's Maps George Washington's Maps we have the first map that shows the name America on it we're part of the bigger broader world and as we look at some of these cartographic evidence of the changes over time it's a realization that we as a nation have changed over time hi I'm sue Vita the chief of the music division there are about 24 million items in the music collection we have Stradivari instruments we have the original rhapsody in blue the original edition of the star-spangled banner' music tells us more about who we are and tells us about our past in our future [Music] hi my name is Michael North and I'm head of reference and reader services in the rare book and special collections division at the Library of Congress this collection holds over a hundred thousand items we have everything from medieval manuscripts early printed books the Bly breeze of Thomas Jefferson one of our most famous books is the Gutenberg Bible it's important to have a record of the past so that we know how we came to be where we are today both in terms of ideas and in terms of history politics art everything hi I'm Melea Walker I'm a reference librarian in the serial on government publications division this collection is massive we have eight hundred thousand reels of microfilm we have about 7.2 million loose issues of newspapers and approximately 42,000 volumes of bound newspaper pages we also have about 140,000 issues of comic books one of the great things about reading newspapers is that you get a sense of what it's like to be an American you are reading how people lived the history itself collections are our way of adding memory and remembrances all of the collections give meaning and context to the human experience and a history of culture [Music] with unique mirrors creating the illusion of infinite books this chinese library and bookstore is every story lovers dream come true while this may look like an ordinary shop from the outside inside readers are invited to settle in for an otherworldly storytelling adventure the black mirror floor is one of two distinct design elements the mirrors create the illusion of a mirage meant to symbolize water which has a long-held significance in yong-jo culture in the past famous authors and poets gathered by the canals in this Chinese town secondly the arched ceilings linked throughout the library which represent the connection between people and books Jones chuga cherishes Jung history while embracing the future head-on by creating a space for the next generation of readers to thrive the soft lighting and flowing shapes set a mood meant to entice the literary curious to settle in for a storytelling adventure [Music] what are you a cat let me check on that [Music] it's called a clowder of cats if you have a question any question there's a number you can call 911 275 697 five and a librarian at the New York Public Library will try to answer it for you hello thanks for calling ask NYPL we have ten librarians on a team and we answer any question that you may have over the telephone in the office today we have matthew bernard Sarina Diane and me our department asked NYPL began in 1967 we started answering questions over the telephone but people have been reaching out to librarians for as long as there have been libraries the New York Public Library has actually saved records of some of the more interesting questions they've been asked over the years like is there a full moon every night in Acapulco why do 18th century English paintings have so many squirrels in them and how did they obtain them so they wouldn't bite the painter our Plato Aristotle and Socrates one in the same person in a world of Google it's a bit surprising to know that they get around 30,000 calls per year my question is why oftentimes people might not have access to the technology at home and I honestly think some just want somebody to talk to so the next time you have a question like how many teeth does a great white shark have you can call this number nine one seven two seven five six nine seven five that will ring inside of this building up on this floor and maybe Barnard or Rosa will pick up and they'll answer it for you they have about 300 serrated teeth you this library is full of historic treasures the Trinity library in Dublin Ireland was founded in 1592 and remains the largest library in the country it's most famous area is the long room this 213 foot room houses 200,000 of the library's oldest books the room is lined with marble busts many of great philosophers writers and people who supported the college the long room is also home to one of the last remaining copies of the 1916 proclamation of the Irish Republic the Trinity College harp which is from the 15th century and the book of kells an illuminated manuscript of the four Gospels that is from the 8th century it is the largest library in Ireland and as a copyright library it can obtain books and materials published in Ireland for free it is the only library in the country to hold this right [Music] [Music] when I work I really tried to reproduce smell scenarios for different purposes be it a street B the neighborhood in the city I've done cause and so smell all over the world could we on behalf of a small molecule find out something about history but we otherwise would know this is sisal Tallis she has many things an artist a scientist but more importantly a smell expert she however prefers another title i'm call myself a professional in-betweener which means what exactly there's a whole world to smell and the whole word to indicate how to smell so you cannot just limit yourself to one discipline right the point is she has dedicated her life to the sense of smell what it means but how it can be used to better understand the world and each other pretty early in my life I started ask questions why are we only understanding the world on behalf of how the world look like what if we started using other senses more appropriate for the same purpose oh why we're starting to discover the same world I've been looking at for several years using the nose for the purpose so how exactly did you go about recording and then reproducing these smells I will walk around identify smells with my own nose I have small devices that enable me to collect the smell Malika's emitting from the source with the result I go to my lab and then the data I get is then the starting point of reproduction of the actual smell I have a lab consisting of up to 4,000 chemical compounds and with those ingredients as with those compounds literally reproduce invisible reality that surround you full-time all the time name a city a neighborhood within a neighborhood a historical building or even an era in time and most likely sizzle has reproduced that smell along with thousands of other scents here in her lab with the hopes of using the findings for a bigger purpose the purpose can be tolerance education navigation to memorize the list is endless is more interesting if you really start understand the smells and see how you can use that information for a purpose beyond miss mallison [Music]

Channel: Great Big Story

Views: 1,257,413

Rating: 4.942101 out of 5

Keywords: great big story, gbs, lag, documentary, docs, library, libraries, collection, Uncharted, reel, reels, travel & adventure, travel

Id: PeLoyrDqL_A

Length: 13min 5sec (785 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 25 2017