Book History from A to Z: U is for Universities

The earliest universities grew from institutions for the education of clergy, both those in monastic houses and those who were not.  When the monastic orders began to confine their educational efforts to only the members of their orders, cathedral schools began gathering teachers and students.  As towns and cities grew the universities grew with them.  The largest universities in Europe were in Bologna and Paris.  Universities are important to the history of books because the main function of the teachers was to read the classic works in each discipline and comment on them or dispute over them with other professors or students.  That was how students were taught.  The universities began gathering collections of books for students to read and copy.  Some of the books were donated to the universities, others were owned by stationers who would rent them to students in sections to be copied by hand.  The books were necessary for both the reading aloud and for preparing for the disputations—where the two sides of the argument were always given, therefore the professors had to do research and consult the sources of law or theology or whatever subject they were disputing.  Books were still quite expensive during these early days of the university, and most students could not afford to buy them, thus the renting and copying.  At libraries during medieval times, books were often chained to a table in a reading room, so that students could not steal them.

Fortunately, we do not have to chain the books to the table in the reading room any more--we can circulate them to students instead. :)

Image from wikimedia commons. It is in the public domain.