LIS 688D�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ���������������������� Jonathan Eaker Article Review   Singleton, Brent D. �African Bibliophiles: Books and Libraries in Medieval Timbuktu.� � Libraries & Culture 39, no. 1 (Winter 2004): 1-12.   ����������� During the �Golden Age of Timbuktu� (1493-1591) the African city became a major research center for the Islamic world. The emphasis on education made the acquisition of new books very important. The educated upper class valued having a large private library for their research and to give others for their studies. Private libraries became so important that were status symbols among the elite. Unlike other major Muslim cities, Timbuktu never created its own public library. This article told the history of Timbuktu and explained how the social structure of the city made book ownership and private libraries so important, but not the creation of a public library. �� ����������� Timbuktu was founded as a camp for storing goods and grew to be one of the more important cities in the Islamic world by being a major trading point for Sudanese Muslims on their way to Mecca. At its height, Timbuktu had as many as 180 Qur�anic schools which taught students basic reading. The city�s elite were able to go on and become ulama, or scholars, who were able to study many subjects and travel to other cities to advance their learning. New books became important to the ulama. Books and paper for copying books became one of the major items for trade. Some people were willing to pay large amounts in order to gain access to books they wanted. There are no good statistics on how many or how large the city�s personal libraries were except for a quote by Ahmad Baba who stated that his library was the smallest of his relatives and it had 1,600 volumes. ����������� There is evidence to show that people would loan their books out to others. One man, Muhammad Baghayogho, was said to have given his books to anyone that needed them, even people he didn�t know. The ability for people to borrow books from other scholars is pointed to as one reason that public libraries were never created in Timbuktu. Another reason was that unlike many other Islamic cities, only the elite were able to become scholars, so they were few in number and all came from the same families. Social status also played a part since a large personal library was viewed as a symbol of prestige; the wealthy citizens of Timbuktu had no desire to help contribute to a public library. ����������� This article highlighted an area of the world that is less well known in library history. Learning that Europe wasn�t the only place that library development was taking place shows just how advanced the rest of the world was and how much the Europeans (and Americans) have emphasized their own achievements over others. The author was able to tell a brief history of Timbuktu that gives the reader an idea how it was to live there at this time. From that he explained how the private library came to be so important and how their social structure prevented a public library from being created. It is interesting to know that even among people who valued intelligence and information so much that personal desires still stood in the way of creating something that could have benefited them all.