Library

Great Jedi Library SWTOR — The Great Jedi Library on Ossus

A library or datalibrary^[1] was a collection of sources, resources and services, and the structure in which it was housed; it was organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution, or a private individual.

In the more traditional sense, a library was a collection of books. It can mean the collection, the building or room that housed such a collection, or both. The term "library" has itself acquired a secondary meaning: "a collection of useful material for common use." Public and institutional collections and services may be intended for use by people who choose not to — or can't afford to — purchase an extensive collection themselves, who need material no individual can reasonably be expected to have, or who require professional assistance with their research. In addition to providing materials, libraries also provide the services of librarians who are experts at finding and organizing information and at interpreting information needs. Many libraries were also repositories and access points for maps, prints, or other documents and various storage media.

Libraries were defined as places to get unrestricted access to information in many formats and from many sources. They were understood as extending beyond the physical walls of a building, by including material accessible by electronic means, and by providing the assistance of librarians in navigating and analyzing tremendous amounts of information with a variety of digital tools.