"In the ninth century, the library of the monastery of St. Gall was the largest in Europe. It boasted 36 volumes. At the same time, that of Cordoba contained 500,000" (Lunde 1982)
The above quote gives an idea of how far advanced the Islamic libraries were during the Islamic golden age of the 5th - 13th centuries. Apparently, Muslim societies had access to paper during this time, allowing books to be printed, whereas the western world did not.Paper was invented in China in the first century, but it was Muslim merchants who bought it to the west were it was put to good use in developing the amazing book culture that was to follow.
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References
Lunde, Paul 1982, Science: the Islamic legacy, Saudi Armco World, viewed 20 May 2010.
(http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198203/science.the.islamic.legacy-science.in.al-andalus.htm)
Cotter, Holland 2001, The Story of Islam's Gift of Paper to the West, New York Times, viewed 21 May 2010, (http://web.utk.edu/~persian/paper.htm)
succinct! How did your research go? Don't forget to reflect on process each week also.
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