The Mechanics' Institute is thrilled to unveil a captivating new display from our Archives, showcasing recently donated ephemera from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE), San Francisco's celebrated world's fair. This remarkable addition to our collection, generously donated by historian and author...
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On February 25, 2025, the Mechanics’ Institute Library hosted a game night featuring The Royal Game of Ur. Many attendees had never played the game before and were curious about the history and origins plus interested in joining others for some rounds of gaming. If you happened to miss the event, here’s some background of the game, the rules played during the game night, and links to more information.
If...
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By, Roya Koutchekinia, Library Intern (A picture of my mom's Haft-seen)
The Persian New Year, Nowruz, is a 3,000-year-old spring festival celebrated by millions worldwide. Rooted in Zoroastrianism, it is celebrated in many countries other than Iran, including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
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Have you ever thought about how easily you’ve found a book in our catalog or placed a hold on an item to then retrieve it the very next day? Maybe you’ve wondered who keeps track of all the books purchased and which magazines are missing from the collection. That would be none other than our Head of Technical Services Librarian, Steven Dunlap. And now after almost 7 years, Steven will be retiring at the end of the month (M...
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As we prepare to say goodbye to winter, we also come to the end of our first-ever Winter Read Program, which wrapped up on March 3rd.
The program was meant to inspire your reading and perhaps introduce you to new authors and stories. We’re so excited to have been able to offer it for the first time this year and hope those who took part enjoyed the experience.
User Services Librarian Jessica Jaramillo is keen to hear from you, our members. She enc...
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From my personal study of chess, I have found that we not only have a large number of chess books -- in the Mechanics' Institute Library as well as in the world in general -- but also an extensive variety of ways these chess books teach the game. I have occasionally had chess player members ask me for advice about chess books: which ones are the best for beginners? (Beginner in the sense of someone just starting to get ser...
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PRINT BOOKS
FICTION
Robert. Coover The public burning Fic Coover 1997
Julia Armfield Private rites : a novel Fic Armfield
Brittany Newell Soft core : a novel Fic Newell
William S. Burroughs Queer...
PRINT BOOKS
NON-FICTION
Applied Sciences
Nick Jackson Beyond flavour : wine tasting by structure 663.2 J124
Arts, Architecture & Crafts
Sanaz Mazinani Signal to noise 779.092 M476
James Michael Buckley City of W...
EBOOKS
Joan Didion After Henry
Orlando Murrin Knife skills for beginners : a novel
Stuart Eizenstat President Carter : the White House years
David Thomson The fatal alliance : a century of war on film
Ramin Setood...
This coming Tuesday, February 25th from 6:00-7:30 pm, the Mechanics' Institute will be hosting a Game Night in the Library. Members and guests are invited to gather on the 2nd floor of our beautiful library. Game Night will kick off with a short talk about the featured game of the evening, followed by a friendly competition among attendees. This session we celebrate one of the oldest bo...
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