circulating library
1
5.1
- noun
- /ˈsɜrkjəˌleɪtɪŋ ˈlaɪbrəri/
:
biblioteca de préstamo
- The change, approved by the library board on Wednesday, marks a significant shift in the Central Library Plan, a $300 million proposal to turn the historic building into the world's largest combined research and circulating library.
Examples
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Under the plan, two Midtown library locations will be merged into the Schwarzman Building: the Mid-Manhattan Library, the system's largest circulating library, and the Science, Industry and Business Library, where the use of print materials is decreasing because of digitization.
Blog text (32) -
Responding to objections raised by scholars, writers, artists, and others, the New York Public Library has revised its plan to remove most of the books from its flagship Fifth Avenue research center to make room for a circulating library.
Blog text (32) -
You can borrow novels and non-fiction books from the local circulating library for a small membership fee.
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After joining the circulating library, she was excited to take home several books to read over the weekend.
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The circulating library allows members to check out books and enjoy them at home, making reading more accessible.
Synonyms
3
2.3
A place where you borrow books to take home for a short time
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is compositional: 'circulating' describes what the library does (items circulate, i.e. are lent out), so a learner who knows both words can infer it is a library that lends books for use outside the premises. This adjective+noun pattern is a regular, cross-linguistically common construction, making the meaning readily derivable for a B1 learner.
Etymology
Circulating library comes from the image of books that circulate — move from reader to reader. It was a place where people paid or became members so they could borrow books to take home, so the name explains why it means 'a library that lends books to members to take out of the building'.