Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Los Gatan Joan Markley Todd brings her passion for books and history to the Saratoga library April 3.
Speaker explores legacy of libraries
By Shari Kaplan
For retired professor Joan Markley Todd, being surrounded by books is an experience that makes her almost giddy with anticipation and delight.
"The mental process of what happens to you when you go to the library or read a book is something wonderful!" Todd says.
For those who do not think of books with such strong emotions, the best way to empathize is to attend one of Todd's presentations, whether it is a lecture in ancient history, which she taught for years as a professor at San Jose State University, or her present programs at venues, such as an upcoming meeting of the Friends of the Saratoga Libraries.
On April 3, in the Community Room of the Saratoga Library, 13650 Saratoga Ave., the Los Gatos resident and FSL member will give a talk, titled "Liber, Libris, Liberation: The Legacy of the Ancient Libraries." The event begins at 6 p.m., is free and open to the public.
The words in the program's title were carefully chosen, appropriate for Todd, who likes to paraphrase Socrates: "Anything not examined isn't worth having."
The words liber and libris refer to books in their singular and collective Latin forms, says Todd, who also is fascinated by language. The root of the word liber, interestingly enough, is derived from the term for a tree's inner bark, from which paper was made.
Legacy also is no accidental word, since it relates to the Latin verb legare: to send an ambassador. It was the ambassadorial legati, who traveled with the Roman army and brought law and culture to conquered places.
Although not the most subtle way to educate others, the legati brought a form of liberation to the people under Roman influence. Just as those ancient people gained intellectual freedom through learning the value of education and reading, libraries give the same liberating feeling to information seekers today.
"The Romans always believed that if you understand the things you have received, your life takes on meaning. If you don't, your life tends to be hollow," Todd says.
Another of Todd's favorite topics, and one on which she will speak April 3 is Alexander the Great's historic library at Alexandria, Egypt. The library was home to more than half a million scrolls on untold numbers of topics. Although all the scrolls were lost to fire in antiquity, a committee has been working on rebuilding and expanding the famed library. It may open within a year or two, says Todd, whose mother started the first elementary school in their hometown of Minneapolis, Minn. and a traveling library that served city hospitals.
Like the library at Alexandria, many books that filled various countries' libraries were lost in later centuries to fires, floods, pillaging or the deterioration that comes from being poorly handled. This makes relics all the more valuable.
"The ancient books we have today are mostly from out-of-the-way places, like convents or private collections," says Todd, who holds a master's degree in history from the University of Minnesota, and a doctoral degree in ancient history from the University of Pittsburgh.
As part of her historical studies, she traveled the route of Xenophon and the 10,000 Greeks to the Black Sea, across Turkey and to the Persian Gates. Xenophon, an Athenian, was a student of Socrates and contemporary of Plato. He joined a band of mercenaries hired by Prince Cyrus of Persia. Xenophon was not a warrior, but rather a historian and something of an ancient-day journalist, recording events for posterity. These writings are available to this day, a part of the ongoing legacy of libraries.
Todd's program includes a potluck dinner hosted by the FSL. The group originated in the late 1970s ÎÏÏand supports the Saratoga library by raising funds for furnishings, art, display cases, plants and services. Much of its money comes from the Book-Go-Round, a used bookstore run by Friends at the site of the old Saratoga Village Library, 14410 Oak Street. For more information, call Jim Givens at 408.378.5644.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
