From the Introduction: Stale air, smelling of old parchment, mold and dust is the first thing assaulting the senses of anyone entering this room through one of its two gates. The next thing that becomes obvious are the numerous shelves, heaped with even more numerous scrolls, spanning between the columns supporting the ceiling. A number of lamps mounted on some of these columns provide a little illumination. Anything but the center of this scriptorium remains in a twilight though. Especially in the dimly lit space surrounded by shelves and columns one has to take care not to stumble over heaps of heavy tomes. In the well lit center two heavy wooden table serve as a rudimentary working space, where scribes study and sometimes copy the contents of this little library.