Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah
Historian Yahya ibn Said al-Antaki (d. 1066) reported that the Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah () financed and established libraries open to the public, where anyone, even the simple laymen, could choose whatever books they wanted and have them copied for them by public scribes, free of charge. However, as with many of his other decisions, Al-Hakim later ordered this policy to be reversed.