Gods and Libraries

Library of Babel.
Man, the imperfect librarian, may be the work of chance or of malevolent demiurges; the universe, with its elegant endowment of shelves, of enigmatic volumes, of indefatigable ladders for the voyager, and of privies for the seated librarian, can only be the work of a god. The god of libraries. Of knowledge? Of the religion of science?
Random House Dictionary.
Library, with one r-sound following close upon another, is particularly vulnerable to the process of dissimilation—the tendency for neighboring like sounds to become unlike, or for one of them to disappear altogether. The pronunciation /ˈlaɪbrɛri/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[lahy-brer-ee] while still the most common, is frequently reduced by educated speakers, both in the U.S. and in England, to the dissimilated /ˈlaɪbəri/[lahy-buh-ree] or /ˈlaɪbri/[lahy-bree]. A third dissimilated form /ˈlaɪbɛri/[lahy-ber-ee] is more likely to be heard from less educated or very young speakers, and is often criticized.

Crystalinks.
Ancient Egypt names Thoth and his mistress/daughter Seshat as gods of the library. Seshat was the goddess of wisdom, libraries, and measurement of time. Thoth was the scribe god. hoth was the 'One who Made Calculations Concerning the Heavens, the Stars and the Earth', the 'Reckoner of Times and of Seasons', the one who 'Measured out the Heavens and Planned the Earth'. He was 'He who Balances', the 'God of the Equilibrium' and 'Master of the Balance'. 'The Lord of the Divine Body', 'Scribe of the Company of the Gods', the 'Voice of Ra', the 'Author of Every Work on Every Branch of Knowledge, Both Human and Divine', he who understood 'all that is hidden under the heavenly vault'. Thoth was not just a scribe and friend to the gods, but central to order - ma'at - both in Egypt and in the Duat. He was 'He who Reckons the Heavens, the Counter of the Stars and the Measurer of the Earth'.

Borges.
When it was proclaimed that the Library comprised all books, the first impression was one of extravagant joy. All men felt themselves lords of a secret, instant treasure. There was no personal or universal problem whose eloquent solution did not exist-- in some hexagon. The universe was justified, the universe suddenly expanded to the limitless dimensions of hope. At that time there was much talk of the Vindications: books of apology and prophecy, which vindicated for all time the actions of every man in the world and established a store of prodigious arcana for the future.






Me.
Man, the underqualified overseer of a boundless source of knowledge, may be the remainder of an experiment attempted by an evil force; the universe, with its refined capacities for the perfect and mysterious, with limitless tools with which to survey, and secrets only for the patient and qualified, can only have come from a different source.

Borges.
I know of a wild region whose librarians repudiate the vain superstitious custom of seeking any sense in books and compare it to looking for meaning in dreams or in the chaotic lines of one's hands.