Emphasis Preaching Journal

Benjamin Franklin is the founder of the first lending library. He was a public-spirited man, lending himself to many worthwhile projects that meant he had to ask the public for support. He found that reputation had a detrimental effect in these things. Some people did not like to have good examples around. In connection with the library project he says: "I therefore put myself as much as I could out of sight, and stated it as a scheme of a number of friends, who had requested me to go about and propose it to such as they thought lovers of reading.