Treasures from the Basement

 The Mendocino County Library is pleased to announce a new series on What We're Reading: “Treasures from the Basement.” Did you know that the Ukiah library has more books than you see on the shelves? In fact, we have an entire basement full of fun, unique books you can take home. We’ll be highlighting some of these books with regular posts about fun finds from the basement.*

Raymond H. Ramsay’s No Longer on the Map: Discovering Places that Never Were is a collection of geographical myths: places that enchanted and enticed cartographers, explorers, and daydreamers alike. Filled with images of old maps and woodcut illustrations, this book explores the legends of places like El Dorado, the Northwest Passage, the Seven Cities of North America, etc., and tells the tales of the people who searched for them.

For more books like this one, search for the subject "Geographical myths" in our catalog.

The 398s are Folklore!

School is back in session this week, and what better way to get kids (and adults) excited for learning than exploring the library’s folklore sections! Folklore is literature, philosophy, and history all rolled into one, and here at the Ukiah library, we have plenty of folkloric books to enthrall people of all ages, interests, and backgrounds.

The folklore genre is more than just fairy tales; it includes myths, legends, songs, beliefs, and traditions. The British Columbia Folklore Society contends that “Folklore is common to all people. Understanding, appreciating and sharing another culture’s folklore transcends race, color, class, and creed more effectively than any other single aspect of our lives and, as an element of our past and present society it is something we can all relate to.” Pick up a book from our 398 sections today!

*Books in the basement are listed as being in the “closed stacks” collection in our catalog. Just ask someone on staff, and we can fetch it for you!