Libraries and librarianship in the Ottoman Empire

Abstract

As in most Islamic societies, in the Ottoman Empire, knowledge was prized as one of the greatest virtues. In order to spread it the foundation of mosques, colleges and libraries as charitable endowments was so common that it was virtually the sole means of establishing an infrastructure of educational and religious institutions. By the end of the Ottoman period Istanbul alone had several thousand institutions built as charitable foundations. It was a practice for founders to build a building and to set aside properties the rent of which would go to the upkeep of this endowment. Thereafter less wealthy benefactors often endowed the institution with gifts of all types. It was by these means that the Ottoman Empire established a system of higher education which consisted of colleges not only in the capital but in every province. It was partly to facilitate the teaching activities that the first libraries were founded also to allow the common people access to knowledge.