Agincourt District Libraries Blog

LIBRARY CAGE MATCH #1:

AGINCOURT LIBRARY

VS

THE ANCIENT LIBRARY OF

ALEXANDRIA

At Agincourt Library, we're understandably proud of our branch. We're always bragging about it to anyone who bothers to listen. We think we have what it takes to challenge any other library, space to space, collection to collection, program to program.

We're not afraid to step into a Library Cage Match with any potential opponent!

TODAY'S CHALLENGER: THE ANCIENT LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA

Bring it on.

YEARS IN OPERATION:

ANCIENT LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA [ALA] – approximately 235 years (opened in c.283 BC and burned down, apparen'tly by accident, by Julius Caesar in 48 BC)

AGINCOURT LIBRARY [AG] – 94 years (opened on November 19th, 1918. Going strong ever since.)

ADVANTAGE: ANCIENT LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA

TOTAL FLOOR SPACE:

AG – 27,000 sq. ft. (2,511 sq. m.)

ALA – specific size unknown, but estimates say approximately 30 times the size of AG

ADVANTAGE: ANCIENT LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA

COLLECTION SIZE:

ALA – 700,000 scrolls (approximately 100,000 modern printed books)

AG – approximately 158,728 books (and growing)

ADVANTAGE: AGINCOURT LIBRARY

LANGUAGES IN COLLECTION:

AG – English, Chinese, French, Hindi, Japanese, Tamil, Arabic, Urdu, Gujarati, Italian, Korean, Spanish,     Tagalog

ALA – materials from the Jewish, Chaldee, Persian, Ethiopian, Egyptian, Greek and Roman     culture

ADVANTAGE: EQUAL

LIBRARY SERVICES:

ALA – Peripatos walk, gardens, room for shared dining, reading room, lecture halls, and     meeting rooms

AG – Art exhibit space, book drop, express checkout, 48 computers, auditorium (capacity 120)

ADVANTAGE: ANCIENT LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA

FAMOUS PATRONS:

AG – We treat all our patrons like stars, but to our knowledge nobody that famous has come through      recently…

ALA – Aristarchus, Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Callimachus, Euclid, Herophylus, Manetho,     Zenodotus, Diophantes, Apollonius of Perga, Hero, Archimedes…to name but a few…

ADVANTAGE: ANCIENT LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA

WINNER: THE ANCIENT LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA

Okay, okay, so we don't match up to THE GREATEST LIBRARY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD!

It doesn't matter. At the end of the day, we're still here to serve you and it's not (thanks a lot, Julius Caesar!).

To find out more about today's amazing opponent, check out these books: