Libraries were a feature of larger cities across the ancient world with famous examples being those at Alexandria, Athens, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Nineveh. Rarely ever lending libraries, they were typically designed for visiting scholars to study and copy whatever they were most interested in. Not until the Roman period did genuinely public libraries allow all comers to come and read as they wished. Texts in ancient libraries were typically kept on papyrus or leather scrolls, inscribed on wax and clay tablets or bound in parchment codexes, and they covered everything from how to read omens to the letters sent between ancient rulers. Books were acquired through purchase, copying, and donations but were also one of the items taken away from cities by their conquerors; such was the value put on knowledge in antiquity.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original content at https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1428/libraries-in-the-ancient-world/.