Libraries are amazing places and worth a visit whatever your age.
Our local lenders are all treasure troves of discovery but we鈥檝e decided to explore some of the world鈥檚 most extreme places to borrow a book.
Think reading rooms which double as Hollywood movie sets and shelves of books at lofty heights - checking out the latest Jacqueline Wilson has never been more record-breaking.
The most famous library on the silver screen
Image source, SHUTTERSTOCKNew York Public Library on the corner of 5th Avenue and 42nd Street should be a familiar sight to movie fans.
Image source, GETTYFamed for its Rose Main Reading Room, the library appeared in the Audrey Hepburn classic Breakfast at Tiffany鈥檚 in 1961. Twenty-three years later it featured in Ghostbusters where the team encountered the spirit of librarian Eleanor Twitty.
Those are just two of the many films with scenes shot here. Others include two of Tobey Maguire鈥檚 Spider-Man movies, The Day After Tomorrow and the Sex and the City movie.
The oldest library in the world
Image source, GETTYFez in Morocco is home to al-Qarawiyyin University. Inside you鈥檒l find a library which has been in constant use since 859.
That鈥檚 not a typo, this library has been issuing books and other documents for 1,160 years. That gives potential for some eye-watering late return fines.
Image source, GETTYThe biggest library on the planet
The Library of Congress in Washington DC, United States has the largest number of books in its collection in the world. That means it also has the most shelf space.
To put it in hard figures, that鈥檚 more than 167 million different items on around 838 miles of shelving. Can鈥檛 be much fun dusting that.
Image source, GETTYThe highest library you'll ever find
Guests at a hotel in Tomorrow Square, Shanghai, China, have a bit of a trip if they fancy a read.
The library is on the 60th floor, almost 231 metres from the ground and is recognised by Guinness World Records as the highest on the planet.
Image source, GETTYThe little library with a big heart
The Little Free Library is an entire network of tiny book collections across America.
More than 75,000 sites in the USA are home to these tiny boxes, usually containing a couple of small shelves of books.
Image source, GETTYThey are usually based in the heart of communities where people either take a book to read or leave one for someone else.
It's a concept used around the world. In the UK, our old red telephone boxes are sometimes turned into tiny lending libraries once they fall out of use.
The collection you (probably) couldn鈥檛 finish if you tried
Image source, GETTYIt鈥檚 not surprising the British Library near St Pancras station in London is the largest public building constructed in the UK in the 20th century. It needs space - and lots of it.
Ten million bricks were used to create its 14 storeys of knowledge. Three million items are added to its collection annually, increasing its already massive shelf space (625km) by 12km each year. It鈥檚 not just books that are stored there, visitors can also see maps, drawings and music scores among other items.
Just make sure you know which book you鈥檙e looking for before you start browsing. If you worked at a pace of examining five items a day, it would take more than 80,000 years to go through the entire collection.
This article was published in January 2019
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