Book - Definition

Variety of names such as book, document, information sources, information resources, information materials, information media, etc are common in use in present society to address the recorded information. At the same time, the term ‘Book’ is used as an accepted and  widely used term from ancient time to the present day society to refer any recorded information.  References in sangam literatures have revealed that different names such as ‘Ēdu’, ‘Õlai’ (names of writing materials), ‘suvatu’, ‘Tūkku’ (means poem), ‘Ňūl’(name of binding thread), ‘Panuval’( means telling), ‘Puttakam’( a place for having  new ideas), ‘Pottakam’ (bundle up or full of new ideas)  were common to address the term ‘book’. One of the ancient Tamil literatures ‘Naladiyar says that ‘puttakamē sāla tokuttum’ means compiling the book in a proper way (Naladiyar  318) 

The term book is defined as ‘A set of blank sheets of paper bound along one edge and enclosed within protective covers to form a volume, especially a written or printed literary composition presented in this way (Dictionary of library science 1992). A collection of leaves of paper, parchment, vellum, cloth, or other material (written, printed, or blank) fastened together along one edge, with or without a protective case or cover. The origin of the word is uncertain. It may be derived from the Anglo-Saxon boc (plural bec) or from the Norse bok, meaning "book" or "beech tree," possibly in reference to the wooden boards originally used in binding (Reitz 2006). At a UNESCO conference in 1964 a book was defined as a non-periodical printed publication of at least forty-nine papers, exclusive of cover page’. The ANSI standard includes publications of less than 49 pages that have hard covers.