Here at the Central Library’s reference desk we have a companion – a statue of a Greek boxer who, in accordance with long-standing Library tradition, we call Clarence. Clarence is actually Damoxenus, and he has an interesting history.
“Damoxenus. A boxer of Syracuse, excluded from the Nemean Games for killing his opponent in a pugilistic encounter. The name of the latter was Creugas; and the two... Read Post
It's been nearly a year since the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in J. K. Rowling's 7-volume saga of "the boy who lived," and while Rowling has assured fans that there's no use expecting any more about Harry from her word processor, it doesn't look as though she's going to have the last word. I'm not talking about Potter fan fiction, crazy amounts of which can be found on the Internet. I mean books - books that don't... Read Post
When I got my first job in a library I was surprised to discover how much nonfiction people read. At that time I read fiction almost exclusively and didn’t see the attraction of nonfiction. Sure, one might occasionally need resume writing tips, baseball stats, or advice on where to stay in Vancouver, but surely these types of books couldn’t account for the huge amount of nonfiction that crossed the circulation desk every day. So what on earth were these... Read Post
Just this: when you buy books (and other items like CDs and movies) at the Friends of the Somerville Public Library's book sale, the proceeds help to fund library programs, including the Museum Pass program. The particular big teeth pictured here belong to a fossil kronosaurus on exhibit at Harvard's Museum of Natural History. Harvard's Museum of Natural History is one of the many museums the Library offers passes to, so that Somerville residents can visit them for free, or at a substantial... Read Post
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