Around the Library:



Did you know that MPL has Nooks to check out? You may want to try one of these electronic beauties. If you have heard people talk about them, maybe you are even considering getting one. Why not try one first and see how it fits you. See your friendly librarian at the circulation desk for more information!

Are you an armchair traveler? Maybe you would enjoy a postwar summer in rural Warwickshire. Sarah Waters has written "The Little Stranger", a classic gothic page turner. Warwickshire not your thing? How about listening to the joyful peal of church bells somewhere outside of Somerset? Fiona Mountain has written a marvelous piece of historical fiction in "Lady of the Butterflies". In this world, butterflies were believed to be the souls of the dead and our heroine believed to be a witch. Mancos Public Library has both of these books on the NEW shelf. Up for a trip?

Thanks to our volunteer Jean Marlman who has agreed to do our "scrapbooking" for the year!

Libraries around the world: At the end of the 4th century B.C. the city of Alexandria was founded in Egypt. It was cosmopolitan, culturally rich and very wealthy. Its ruling dynasty at the time, and until the Roman Emperor Augustus defeated its queen (Cleopatra), is called the Ptolemaic dynasty. Note that the center at Alexandria, founded in Egypt, by Macedonian Greeks, with a thriving Jewish community, and conquered later by Romans, was the greatest Mediterranean cosmopolitan area in its heyday. The first Ptolemies created the learning center in the city that was composed of a Serapeum temple, museion (museum) and a library. Although we refer to this learning center as the Library of Alexandria or the Library at Alexandria, it was more than just a library. Students came from all over the Mediterranean world to learn and it produced several of the ancient world's most renowned scholars. Here are some of the major scholars associated with the Library of Alexandria:

1. Euclid (c. 325-265 B.C.) who was one of the most important mathematicians ever.

2. Ptolemy (not one of the rulers of ancient Egypt during the Roman era) was an important scholar at the Library of Alexandria. Claudius Ptolemy (A.D. c. 90-168) wrote an astronomical treatise known as the Almagest, a geographical treatise known simply as Geographia, a 4-book work on astrology known for the number of books as Tetrabiblios, and other works on assorted topics.

3. Hypatia (A.D. 355 or 370 - 415/416), the daughter of Theon, a teacher of mathematics at the Museum of Alexandria, was the last great Alexandrian mathematician and philosopher who wrote a commentary on geometry and taught Neo-platonism to her students. She was brutally murdered by zealous Christians.

4. Eratosthenes (c. 276-194 B.C.) is known for his mathematical calculations and geography. The third librarian at the famous Alexandrian library, he studied under the Stoic philosopher Zeno, Ariston, Lysanias, and the poet-philosopher Callimachus.