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The Sharif Library






چنین گفت پیامبر راستگوی، زگهواره تا گور دانش بجوی

ن
Pictured above are Shirzad Sharif's library and book collection!

Insha'Allah, I will be documenting the library collections titles which were put together & collected by my Grandfather and Father, Mirza Ali Asghar Khan Sharif and Dr. Mirza Malek Mansoor Khan Sharif here which should help catalog the entire collection and all the titles.

We must be careful to never lose the knowledge we have acquired, for this type of calamity is the worst one which can possibly be imagined that could befall a nation as ignorance ("جهل") is the cause of all evil. What Allah (swt) Gives Us, Allah (swt) May Also Take Away.





Professor Mahmoud Hesabi and Albert Einstein...

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution." -Albert Einstein




Professor Mahmoud Hesabi During His Last Moments of Life... May His Soul Rest In Peace...

In Holy Islam there is an extreme importance put on learning and reading books. The Holy Quran is itself a book which all muslims must read, therfore it is necessary for all muslims to know how to read and write. When we read the Holy Quran, we should avoid reading the texts in the parenthesis which are additions to the Holy Quran and are commentary which lead to false teachings.

Also as we read other books we should also think ("فکر") and see if we agree with the contents of the book or not. There is no reason to believe blindly in whatever we read, we must contemplate, try to learn that which is good and discard that which we believe to be bad or not be compatible with our beliefs and conscience.

When we talk with others we are participating in a "Majlis\مجلس" meaning "council", used to describe various types of special gatherings to acquire knowledge and debate ("مباحثه\بحث"), in a debate we present different (maybe opposing) views and normally other people try to refute the other viewpoint, however we must also learn to talk ("صحبت") which is gently presenting a view and is not designed to supress another persons viewpoint, in a typical ("Sohbat") participating people mostly listen instead of talk, however time is often allocated for question and\or answers. It is imperative that in both good manners and ("Adab") would be respected.

Listen twice as much as you Talk. This is how you learn. ("دو چندان که میگویی بشنو").

In the Holy Quran there is numerous mention of ("People of The Book") and how they should not be harmed.

There is also a Surah ("Al-Qalam\القلم‎") in the Holy Quran called "The Pen" which opens this surah with the single discrete Arabic letter Nun ("ن") and the Sacred Oath of the Divine One swearing by the instrument of The Pen, as well as all knowledge that people are able to preserve and communicate thereby.

From the moment we are born we are learning and we should keep on learning until we enter the grave! We must never think we have learned enough or that there is nothing else left to learn! Insha'Allah!

As a Muslim, because our Miracle is the Holy & Noble Quran, it is our duty to read & learn until the grave!

In Iran it is customary to think of anyone that has ever taught you something as being a master ("استاد"). This means that you are forever indebted to them. This is why there has always been major social respect towards teachers ("معلم") in Persian society.





In Baghdad, Iraq the bookshops in the Bazaar keep the books outside during night, because they believe a person who reads doesnt steal and a person that steals doesnt read books!

Insha'Allah Allah (swt) will remove our ignorance ("Ameen"), increase our knowledge not reduce it ("Ameen"), bless it ("Ameen"), protect it ("Ameen") and make us all aware of all the hidden beauty ("Ameen") and good secrets we do not yet know! Ameen Ya Rabul Alameen!


انشاالله
God Willing




Shirzad Sharif's Online Library

Below are some online e-books in (PDF) format for future reading that are missing in my collection. I will be adding more here as they become known and available.

1- Saghi-Nameh
2- Tarab-Nameh
3- Iqbal-Nameh
4- Oshagh-Nameh
5- Norooz-Nameh
6- Fal-Nameh Soltani
7- Fal-Nameh Sheykh Bahai
8- Qalandar-Nameh
9- Pand-Nameh
10- Fotovat-Nameh (Introduction)
11- Fotovat-Nameh-Soltani (Commoners)
12- Padshah-Nameh
13- Shahanshah-Nameh
14- Shah-Nameh
15- Taj-Nameh
16- Jahan-Nameh
17- Ghaboos-Nameh
18- Siasat-Nameh
19- Vahdat-Nameh


سوال اصلی که باید پرسید این است که پس از خواندن این همه نامه، نامه اعمال و زندگی نامه ما چطور نوشته میشود و درونش چیست؟

After reading all the above (Nameh's) which literally means (Book's) the main question to ask is what is in our Book of Life and what is our Life's Story and Book of Deeds? Insha'Allah Allah (swt) will grant us the Blessings to have good things written in our life! Insha'Allah! Ameen Ya Rabul Alameen!

20- Nasih-ol-Molook
21- Hodood-e-Alam
22- Diwan-e-Khaqani
23- Naqshbandi Handbook
24- Haft Orang
25- Manegh-ol-Teyr
26- Divan Attar Neyshaburi
27- Divan Shams Tabrizi
28- Leyli va Majnoon
29- Khosrow va Shirin
30- Ihya-e-Oloom-e-Din
31- The Book of Sufi Chivalry
32- Javanmardi, Ayaari & Futuwwat Before and After Islam
33- One Thousand and One Nights (Tasavoji Edition)
34- One Thousand and One Nights (Alif Lileh o Lileh Edition)
35- Kindness ("پاکخویی")
36- Tarab-ol-Majales
37- Classical Persian Music
38- Understanding Persian Architecture
39- The Book of Jubilees
40- Bellydance - Music of a Thousand Years


Libraries have been deliberately or accidentally destroyed or badly damaged. Sometimes a library is purposely destroyed as a form of cultural cleansing. There are examples of accidentally destroyed libraries by human actions. Other times they are damaged by natural disasters like earthquakes, floods or accidental fires. Insha'Allah our family library will survive the test of time and provide knowledge to those that need it! Ameen Ya Rabul Alameen!

Name of Library City Country Date of Destruction Perpetrator Reason and/or Account of Destruction
Xianyang Palace and State Archives Xianyang Qin China 206 BC Xiang Yu Xiang Yu, rebelling against emperor Qin Er Shi, led his troops into Xianyang in 206 BC. He ordered the destruction of the Xianyang Palace burning of books and burying of scholars earlier.
Library of Alexandria Alexandria Ancient Egypt Disputed Disputed Disputed destruction of the Library of Alexandria.
Imperial library of Luoyang Luoyang Han China 189 AD Dong Zhuo Much of the city, including the imperial library, was purposefully burned when its population was relocated during an evacuation.
Library of Antioch Antioch Ancient Syria 364 AD Emperor Jovian The library had been heavily stocked by the aid of the perpetrator's non-Christian predecessor, Emperor Julian (the Apostate).
Library of the Serapeum Alexandria Ancient Egypt 392 Pope Theophilus of Alexandria Following the conversion of the temple of Serapis into a church, the library was destroyed.
Library of Ctesiphon Ctesiphon Persian Empire 637 Caliph Omar of the Rashidun Caliphate The library was burned and destroyed at the perpetrator's decree.
Library of al-Hakam II Córdoba, Andalusia Al-Andalus 976 Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir & religious scholars All books consisting of ancient science were destroyed in a surge of ultra-orthodoxy.
Library of Rayy Rey, Iran Buyid Emirate 1029 Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni Burned the library and all books deemed as heretical.
Library of Avicenna Isfahan Kakuyid Emirate 1034 Sultan Mas'ud I After conquering the city of Isfahan, the library of Avicenna was destroyed.
Library of Banu Ammar (Dar al-'ilm) Tripoli, Lebanon Fatimid Caliphate 1109 Crusaders Following Sharaf al-Daulah's surrender to Baldwin I of Jerusalem, Genoese mercenaries burned and looted part of the city. The library, Dar al-'ilm, was burned.
Library of Ghazna Ghazni, Afghanistan Ghurid empire 1151 Ala al-Din Husayn City was sacked and burned for seven days. Libraries and palaces built by the Ghaznavids were destroyed.
Library of Nishapur Nishapur Seljuk Empire 1154 Oghuz Turks City partially destroyed, libraries sacked and burned.
Nalanda Nalanda India 1193 Bakhtiyar Khilji Nalanda University complex (the most renowned repository of Buddhist knowledge in the world at the time) was sacked by Turkic Muslim invaders under the perpetrator; this event is seen as a milestone in the Decline of Buddhism in India.
Imperial Library of Constantinople Constantinople Byzantine Empire 1204 The Crusaders In 1204, the library became a target of the knights of the Fourth Crusade. The library itself was destroyed and its contents burned or sold.
Alamut Castle's library Alamut Castle Iran 1256 Mongol Empire Library destroyed after the Mongol campaign against the Nizaris and capitulation of Alamut.
House of Wisdom Baghdad Iraq 1258 Mongol Empire Destroyed during the Siege of Baghdad (1258) and Battle of Baghdad.
Libraries of Constantinople Constantinople Byzantine Empire 1453 Ottoman Turks After the Fall of Constantinople, hundreds upon thousands of manuscripts were removed, sold, or destroyed from Constantinople's libraries.
Madrasah of Granada and Madrassah Library Granada Crown of Castile 1499 Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros The library was ransacked by troops of Cardinal Cisneros in late 1499, the books were taken to the Plaza Bib-Rambla, where they were burned.
Bibliotheca Corviniana Buda Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867) 1526 Ottoman Turks Library was destroyed by Ottomans in the Battle of Mohács.
Dissolution of the monasteries and Monastic libraries England England 1530s Royal officials The monastic libraries were destroyed or dispersed following the dissolution of monasteries by Henry VIII.
Glasney College Penryn, Cornwall England 1548 Royal officials The smashing and looting of the Cornish colleges at Glasney and Crantock brought an end to the formal scholarship which had helped to sustain the Cornish language and the Cornish cultural identity.
Records on Gozo Gozo Hospitaller Malta 1551 Ottoman Turks Most paper records held on Gozo were lost or destroyed during an Invasion of Gozo (1551) by an Ottoman raid. The raid is said to have "led to the near total destruction of documentary evidence for life in medieval Gozo.
Maya codices, Yucatán Maní, Yucatán Mexico and Guatemala 1562-07-12 Diego de Landa Bishop De Landa, a Franciscan monk and conquistador during the Spanish conquest of Yucatán, wrote: "We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which were not to be seen as superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they (the Maya) regretted to an amazing degree, and which caused them much affliction." Only three extant codices are widely considered unquestionably authentic.
Raglan Library Raglan Castle Wales 1646 Parliamentary Army The Earl of Worcester's library was burnt during the English Civil War by forces under the command of Thomas Fairfax.
Library of Congress Washington, D.C. United States 1814 Troops of the British Army The library was destroyed during the War of 1812 when British forces set fire to the U.S. Capitol during the Burning of Washington. This attack was retaliation for the burning of the Canadian towns of York and Niagara by American troops in 1813. Soon after its destruction, the Library of Congress was reestablished, largely thanks to the purchase of Thomas Jefferson's personal library in 1815. A second fire on December 24th, 1851 destroyed a large portion of the Library of Congress' collection again, however, resulting in the loss of about two-thirds of the Thomas Jefferson collection and an estimated 35,000 books in total.
Several libraries Mexico City and major Mexican cities Mexico 1856-1867 Liberal Party (Mexico) troops and anti-clericalists During and after the Mexican Reform War, under the Liberal Party (Mexico) and liberal governments of Benito Juárez Ignacio Comonfort, many convent libraries and Church owned school libraries were sacked or destroyed by Liberal troops and looters, most notably included San Francisco Convent Library, which had over 16,000 books (great majority of them were unique collections of Spanish colonial era productions), the library was totally destroyed. Other important libraries included San Agustín Convent Library, was looted and burned. The Carmen de San Ángel Convent and its library were also totally destroyed (with a few books recovered), other affected convent libraries to different degrees were those of Santo Domingo, Las Capuchinas, Santa Clara, La Merced and the Church owned school Colegio de San Juan de Letrán, among others, all of them in Mexico City. Similar events happened all over Mexico, espcially in major cities. Besides books, other items such as altarpieces, unique collections of colonial period Baroque paintings, crosses, sculptures, gold and silver chalices (often robbed and melted) were also lost. Total estimates place the total of lost books and manuscripts at 100,000 by 1884.
University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama United States 1865-05-04 Troops of the Union (American Civil War) Army During the American Civil War, Union troops destroyed most buildings on the University of Alabama campus, including its library of approximately 7,000 volumes.
Mosque-Library Turnovo, Bulgaria Ottoman Empire 1877 Christian Bulgarians Turkish books in a library were destroyed when the mosque was burned.
Royal library of the Kings of Burma Mandalay Palace Burma 1885–1887 Troops of the British Army The British looted the palace at the end of the 3rd Anglo-Burmese War (some of the artefacts which were taken away are still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London) and burned down the royal library.
Hanlin Academy Library Hanlin Academy China 1900-06-23/4 Disputed. Possibly the Kansu Braves, besieging the west of the Legation Quarter, or possibly by the international defending forces. During the Siege of the International Legations Beijing at the height of the Boxer Rebellion, the unofficial national library of China at the Hanlin Academy, which was adjacent to the British Legation, was set on fire (by whom and whether deliberately or accidentally is still disputed) and almost entirely destroyed. Many of the books and scrolls that survived the flames were subsequently looted by forces of the victorious foreign powers.
Library of the Catholic University of Leuven Leuven Belgium 1914-08-25 German Occupation Troops The Germans set the library on fire as part of the burning of the entire city in an attempt to use terror to quell Belgian resistance to occupation.
National Archives and Public Records Office of Ireland Dublin Ireland 1922 Disputed. Poss. deliberately by Anti-Treaty IRA or accidental ignition of their stored explosives due to shelling by Provisional Government forces. The Four Courts was occupied by the Anti-Treaty IRA at the start of the Irish Civil War. The building was bombarded by the Irish Free State Provisional Government forces under Michael Collins (Irish leader).
Several religious libraries Madrid Republican Spain 1931 Anarchists and anti-clericalists In 1931, several groups of radical leftists and anarchists, with the complicit inaction of the Republican government, Burning of convents in Spain (1931 burned down several convents in Madrid. Most included important libraries. Among them, the Colegio de la Inmaculada y San Pedro Claver and the Instituto Católico de Artes e Industrias with a library of 20 000 volumes; the Casa Profesa with a library of 80 000 volumes, considered the second best in Spain at the time, after the National Library and the Instituto Católico de Artes e Industrias, with 20 000 volumes, including the archives of the paleographer García Villada, and 100 000 popular songs compiled by P. Antonio Martínez. Everything was lost.
Oriental Library (also known as Dongfang Tushuguan) Zhabei, Shanghai China 1932-02-01 Imperial Japanese Army During the January 28 incident in the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japanese forces bombed The Commercial Press and the attached Oriental Library, setting it alight and destroying most of its collection of more than 500,000 volumes.
Institut für Sexualwissenschaft Berlin Nazi Germany 1933-05-?? Members of Deutsche Studentenschaft On 6 May 1933, the Deutsche Studentenschaft made an organised attack on the Institute of Sex Research. A few days later, the Institute's library and archives were publicly hauled out and burned in the streets of the Opernplatz.
National University of Tsing Hua, University Nan-k'ai, Institute of Technology of He-pei, Medical College of He-pei, Agricultural College of He-pei, University Ta Hsia, University Kuang Hua, National University of Hunan China 1937–1945 World War II Japanese Troops During World War II, Japanese military forces destroyed or partly destroyed numerous Chinese libraries, including libraries at the National University of Tsing Hua, Peking (lost 200,000 of 350,000 books), the University Nan-k'ai, T'ien-chin (totally destroyed, 224,000 books lost), Institute of Technology of He-pei, T'ien-chin (completely destroyed), Medical College of He-pei, Pao-ting (completely destroyed), Agricultural College of He-pei, Pao-ting (completely destroyed), University Ta Hsia, Shanghai (completely destroyed), University Kuang Hua, Shanghai (completely destroyed), National University of Hunan (completely destroyed).
Catholic University of Leuven, 1834–1968 Library of the Catholic University of Leuven Leuven Belgium 1940-05-?? Rape of Belgium by German Occupation Troops Caught fire during German invasion of Louvain, Belgium.
National Library of Serbia Belgrade Kingdom of Yugoslavia 1941-04-06 Nazi German, Luftwaffe Destroyed during the World War II, Operation Retribution, 1941 bombing of Belgrade, on the order of Adolf Hitler himself. Around 500.000 volumes and all collections of the library were destroyed in one of the largest book bonfires in European history.
SS Cyril and Methodius National Library Sofia Bulgaria 1943–1944 Bombing of Sofia in World War II by Allied bombing, Allied air forces
Załuski Library Warsaw Poland 1944 Nazi German troops The library was burned down during the Nazi suppression of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The burning of this library was part of the general setting on fire of a large part of the city of Warsaw.
Lebanese National Library Beirut Lebanon 1975 Lebanese Civil War The 1975 war fighting began in Beirut's downtown where the National Library was located. During the war years, the library suffered significant damage. According to some sources, 1200 of most precious manuscripts disappeared, and no memory is left of the Library's organization and operational procedures of that time.
National Library of Cambodia Phnom Penh Cambodia 1976–1979 The Khmer Rouge Burnt most of the books and all bibliographical records. Only 20% of materials survived.
Jaffna Public Library Jaffna Sri Lanka 1981-05-?? Plainclothes police officers and others In May 1981, a mob composed of thugs and plain clothes police officers went on a rampage in minority Sri Lanka Tamils (native) Tamil-dominated northern Jaffna, and burned down the Jaffna Public Library. At least 95,000 volumes – the second largest library collection in South Asia – were destroyed.
Sikh Reference Library Amritsar, Punjab India 1984-06-07 Troops acting under Indira Gandhi's orders Before its destruction, the library contained rare books and handwritten manuscripts on Sikh religion, history, and culture. It could have been a desperate act on failure to locate letters or documents that could have implicated the then Indian government and its leader Indira Gandhi.
Central University Library of Bucharest Bucharest Romania 1989-12-2? Romanian Land Forces Burnt down during the 1989 Romanian Revolution.
Oriental Institute in Sarajevo Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina 1992-05-17 Bosnian Serb Army Destroyed by the shellfire during the Siege of Sarajevo.
National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina 1992-08-25 Bosnian Serb Army The library was completely destroyed during the Siege of Sarajevo.
Abkhazian Research Institute of History, Language and Literature, National Library of Abkhazia Sukhumi Abkhazia 1992-10-?? Georgian Armed Forces Destroyed during the 1992–1993 War in Abkhazia.
City library Linköping Sweden 1996-09-20 Lack of evidence for trial After a year of repeated, minor arson attempts against an information bureau for immigrants located in the building, the library is eventually burnt down to the ground.
Pol-i-Khomri Public Library Pol-i-Khomri Afghanistan 1998 Taliban Militia It held 55,000 books and old manuscripts.
Iraq National Library and Archive, Al-Awqaf Library, Library of Bayt al-Hikma, Central Library of the University of Mosul and other libraries. Baghdad Iraq 2003-04-?? Unknown members of the Bagdad population Several libraries looted, set on fire, damaged and destroyed in various degrees during the 2003 Iraq War
The People's Library, Occupy Wall Street Zuccotti Park, Lower Manhattan, New York City United States 2011 New York City Department of Sanitation Over 5,000 books cataloged in LibraryThing were seized.
Egyptian Scientific Institute Cairo Egypt 2011-12-?? Aftermath of street clashes during the Egyptian revolution. A first estimate says that only 30,000 volumes have been saved of a total of 200,000.
Ahmed Baba Institute (Timbuktu library) Timbuktu Mali 2013-01-28 Islamist militias Before the library was burned down, it contained over 20,000 manuscripts with only a fraction of them having been scanned as of January 2013. Before and during the occupation, more than 300,000 Timbuktu Manuscripts from the Institute and from private libraries were saved and moved to more secure locations.
Ratanda Public Library Lesedi Local Municipality South Africa 2013-03-12 Public riots 1,807 library books, technological infrastructure including seven patron workstations, a photocopy machine and a large screen television.
Libraries of Fisheries and Oceans Canada Canada 2013 Government of Canada headed by prime minister Stephen Harper Digitization effort to reduce the nine original libraries to seven and save $C 443,000 annual cost. Only 5–6% of the material was digitized, and that scientific records and research created at a taxpayer cost of tens of millions of dollars was dumped, burned, and given away. Particularly noted are baseline data important to ecological research, and data from 19th century exploration.
Saeh Library Tripoli Lebanon 2014-01-03 Unknown The Christian library was burned down, it contained over 80,000 manuscripts and books.
National Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina (partially) Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina 2014-02-07 Seven Bosnian rioters suspected of having started the fire; two (Salem Hatibović and Nihad Trnka) were arrested. On 4 April 2014, Salem Hatibović and Nihad Trnka were released (although still under suspicion of terrorism), on conditions that they don't leave their places of residence and abstain from having any contact with each other. Both were also mandated to report to the police once every week. During the 2014 unrest in Bosnia and Herzegovina large amounts of historical documents were destroyed when sections of the Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina, housed in the presidential building, were set on fire. Among the lost archival material were documents and gifts from the Ottoman Empire and Ottoman period, original documents from the 1878–1918 Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as documentations of the interwar period, the 1941–1945 rule of the Independent State of Croatia, papers from the following years, and about 15000 files from the 1996–2003 Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the repositories that were burnt, about 60 percent of the material was lost, according to estimates by Šaban Zahirović, the head of the Archives.

Mosul University libraries
and private libraries. 		Mosul Iraq 2014-12-?? Ongoing ISIL book burning Book burning.
Libraries in Al Anbar Governorate Al Anbar Governorate Iraq 2014-12-?? Ongoing ISIL book burning Book burning.
Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences (INION) (partially?) Moscow Russia 2015-01-29 Unknown. Fire spread to 2000 m² in third Floor. Roof caved in. Additional water damage. Ambient temperature too high for self-freezing of damaged Works. Library contains 14 million books, including rare texts in ancient Slavic languages, documents from the League of Nations, UNESCO, and parliamentary reports from countries including the US dating back as far as 1789.
Mosul public library
(Central Public Library in Ninawa) 		Mosul Iraq 2015-02-?? ISIL book burning 8,000 rare old books and manuscripts. Manuscripts from the 18th century, Syriac books printed in Iraq's first printing house in the 19th century, books from the Ottoman era, Iraqi newspapers from the early 20th century.


Natural disasters



Name of Library City Country Date of Destruction Causes and/or Account of Destruction
Royal Library of Portugal, Ribeira Palace Lisbon Portugal 1755-11-01 Great Lisbon earthquake
Imperial University Library in Tokyo, Max Müller Library, Nishimura Library, Hoshino Library Japan 1923-09-01 An earthquake and the following fires.
National Library of Nicaragua Rubén Darío Nicaragua 1931, 1972 It was damaged in the 1931 earthquake. Another earthquake in 1972 caused damages; furthermore, it was looted.
Several libraries, archives, and museums Malaysia, Maldives, Thailand, Sri Lanka 2004-12-?? The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. See Library damage resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.


Fire



Name of Library City Country Date of Destruction Account of Destruction
Library of Celsus Ephesus Roman Empire 262 A fire caused by the 262 Southwest Anatolia earthquake or a Gothic invasion.
University of Copenhagen Library Copenhagen Denmark 1728 October Copenhagen Fire of 1728
Cotton Library Huntingdon United Kingdom 1731-10-23
Library of Congress Washington, D.C. United States 1814-08-25
Birmingham Central Library Birmingham United Kingdom 1879-01-11 A fire broke out behind a wooden partition serving as a temporary wall during building operations. The fire caused extensive damage, with only 1,000 volumes saved from a stock of 50,000.
University of Virginia Library Charlottesville, Virginia United States 1895-10-27
New York State Library Albany, New York United States 1911-03-29
National Library of Peru Lima Peru 1943-05-10
Jewish Theological Seminary of America Library New York City United States 1966-04-18 Jewish Theological Seminary library fire
Charles A. Halbert Public Library Basseterre Saint Kitts and Nevis 1982
Dalhousie University Law Library Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada 1985-08-16 A lightning strike caused a short in the electrical system which started a fire that destroyed the top floor of the building which housed the library.
Los Angeles Central Library Los Angeles, California United States 1986-04-29 & 1986-09-03 At 10:52 A.M. on the morning of April 29, 1986, a fire alarm alerted staff and patrons of a fire in the library's main building. Over 350 firefighters responded to the blaze, which burned for about 7 hours. As a result, an estimated 400,000 books were destroyed and an additional 350,000 materials suffered significant amounts of smoke and water damage. Ultimately, the source of the fire was determined to be incendiary and began on the fifth tier of the northeast stack.
Academy of Sciences Library Leningrad USSR 1988-02-14 The 1988 fire in the Library of the USSR, Academy of Sciences (now Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences) broke out on Sunday, February 14, 1988, in the newspaper section on the third floor of the library. According to the library's acting director Valeriy Leonov, the fire alarm sounded at 8:13 pm, when the library was closed for visitors. By the time the fire was extinguished the following afternoon, it had destroyed between 300,000 and 400,000 books of the total 12 million housed. About 3.5 million volumes initially became damp due to firefighting foam.
Norwich Library Norwich, England United Kingdom 1994-08-01 On August 1, 1994, Norwich Central Library caught fire due to an electrical fault. Over one hundred firefighters responded as the flames escalated and smoke became visible from twenty miles away. Ultimately, over 100,000 books and thousands of historical documents were destroyed.
Iraq National Library Baghdad Iraq 2003-04-15 The United States Army as the occupying power had a responsibility for the burning, theft and destruction of Iraq cultural legacy including the National Library and Archive. The Hague regulations (Article 2, Fourth Geneva Convention, 1949) state that as an occupying force the USA should have taken measure to ensure that "cultural property must be respected". American archeologists and academics even warned the US military of the location and importance of protecting Iraq's museums and libraries. However, during the occupation of Baghdad the American military forces placed hundreds of troops at 2 main locations in Baghdad—The Ministry of Interior and The Ministry of Oil; neglecting Iraqs museums, libraries and other institutions. Independent journalist Robert Fisk alerted American troops of the looting and burning of the libraries in Baghdad[8] but they never intervened during the crucial time period required to protect these institutions. It was noted that US troops were positioned right across the road from the library in the Ministry of Defense but orders were withheld to intervene with troops replying "we are soldiers, not policemen," when requested to help.
Duchess Anna Amalia Library Burning Duchess Anna Amalia Library Weimar Germany 2004-09-02
Glasgow School of Art, Rennie Mackintosh Library Glasgow, Scotland United Kingdom 2014-05-24 and 2018-06-15 On May 24, 2014, a fire began inside the Charles Rennie Mackintosh building at the Glasgow School of Art. The Mackintosh Library was lost in the blaze, however, all students and staff were directed to safety and no injuries resulted. The fire began after gases from an expanding foam canister being used in a student project were ignited from a sparking projector. At the time of the incident, the building's fire suppression system that had been recently installed was not yet operational. While the Mackintosh building was under renovation following the 2014 fire, a second fire broke out around 11:15 P.M. on June 15, 2018. Larger in scale than the previous fire, the damages that resulted destroyed all of the building's renovation progress, as well as part of the school that had been left untouched by the first fire.
Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences (INION) Moscow Russia 2015-01-31
Mzuzu University - Library Mzuzu Malawi 2015-12-18 In the very early hours of December 18, 2015, the Mzuzu University library caught fire. Although the library's wooden structure and carpeting spread the flames rapidly, students, staff, and firefighters on the scene attempted to rescue resources by carrying them outside of the building and away from the flames. By 5:00 A.M., however, the library collapsed, resulting in the loss of 45,000 volumes. Following the collapse, a sudden rainstorm heightened the damage by soaking materials that had been previously carried out of the burning building.
National Museum of Brazil Quinta da Boa Vista in Rio de Janeiro Brazil 2018-09-02 Not yet investigated. National Museum of Brazil fire. Museum library was also destroyed.