Iraq: “ISIS Burns Mosul Library: Why Terrorists Target Books”

From infoDOCKET Founder/Editor: Gary Price:
Words often fail when you read stories like the following one and they can fail multiple times too.
For example, words fail when you read about the destruction caused by the act itself (building lost, rare materials destroyed, etc) and they fail again when thinking about what the burning of a library symbolizes (i.e. freedom of speech, freedom of expression, learning, loss of cultural heritage, etc.). These issues are also discussed in the CSM article below.
From the Christian Science Monitor:

From the destruction of the Library of Alexandria in 391 AD, to the burning of Kabul libraries in 2002, to the the obliteration of the Library of Baghdad in 2003, oppressive regimes have historically targeted libraries.
In the latest example, on Sunday, in northern Iraq, Islamic State militants burned the Mosul public library, which housed more than 8,000 rare old books and manuscripts.
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And it’s not the first time the library was targeted. During the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, mobs looted and destroyed the Mosul library. Fortunately, local residents managed to save or restore most of its collections.

Read the Complete Article
See Also: UNESCO alarmed by news of mass destruction of books in Mosul (via UNESCO.org)

Filed under: Libraries, News, Public Libraries