Universal libraries are often assumed to have a complete set of useful features (such as finding aids, translation tools, alternative formats, etc.).
[3] As a phrase, the "universal library" can be traced back to the naturalist Conrad Gessner's Bibliotheca universalis of 1545.
The French librarian Gabriel Naudé wrote: And therefore I shall ever think it extremely necessary, to collect for this purpose all sorts of books, (under such precautions, yet, as I shall establish) seeing a Library which is erected for the public benefit, ought to be universal; but which it can never be, unlesse it comprehend all the principal authors, that have written upon the great diversity of particular subjects, and chiefly upon all the arts and sciences; [...] For certainly there is nothing which renders a Library more recommendable, then when every man findes in it that which he is in search of ...[4][5] Science fiction has used the device of a library which is universal in the sense that it not only contains all existing written works, but all possible written works.
[citation needed] A similar idea was a planet called Memory Alpha, (from the Star Trek episode "The Lights of Zetar") which was the Federation's "storehouse of computer databases containing all cultural history and scientific data it has acquired.".
With the advent of cheap widely available digital storage, the ideal of universality, although still nearly impossible to attain, has become closer to being feasible.