Open-shelf college libraries traded security for reading access

Evidence

In the separate library rooms of the colleges, a profound shift took place: the scholars abandoned the sturdy storage of the monastic chest and moved towards libraries where scholars could work with the books. The new norm became a series of lecterns with benches for seating, placed in a row in the body of the room. … This was a critical development: books were now displayed openly rather than safely locked away in chests or cabinets. Readers could consult many texts in a short space of time, essential for the sort of textual work we associate with the advance of learning. But it also meant books could go missing with greater ease: by 1338, over 300 of the 2,000 volumes in the possession of the College of the Sorbonne had already disappeared. — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 110

Categorization

• XREF: The access-vs-security tradeoff parallels modern digital library debates about open access and preservation. — connects to: the MOC “The Authority Apparatus: How Textual Orders Make and Unmake Power”
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 110