The bestselling book series in history was written about a mythical world of dragons, potions, spells and a branch of science that is no longer accepted. With over 400 million total books sold, J. K. Rowling’s series Harry Potter has become a sensation since it first appeared on shelves in 1997.

“The best part was following the characters for seven years,” English major Rose Marie Binger said. Binger has read all of the Harry Potter books.

The library is showcasing an exhibit until October 6 featuring the Harry Potter series and the historical context upon which the books were written. The exhibit, produced by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, covers the books briefly before delving into the elements of history that each of the individual books are based on.

“Our goal is to provide the opportunity for students to connect science and history with a popular series,” Special Collections and Archives Librarian Aimee Brown said. “Books can lead you into different disciplines.”

As shown in the exhibit, each of the books are based on beliefs about an ancient science, mythical beasts and herbology. Some of these, herbology in particular, may sound like the subjects that students studied in the books. That’s because the subjects that the students studied were based on these historical subjects.

CMU students have mixed reactions to the exhibit. Taylor Loo, a student who has almost all of the books, said the exhibit was interesting and was “surprised that J.K. Rowling did the research and not just make it all up in her head.”

Dalton Archer, who read the first five books then only read bits and pieces of the remaining two, agreed with Loo.

“It’s interesting that Harry Potter can be used as a gateway to the historical aspect,” Binger said. “But there are other aspects of Harry Potter that are better,” she said voicing her disappointment. “It’s a good glimpse, but it could be bigger.”

“This is only a small traveling version,” Brown said.

The majority of the exhibit is online, but the library also offers many books on different ways to read Harry Potter.

One of the features the online section offers is a more in-depth coverage of some of the topics that the smaller exhibit addresses. This section presents questions and exercises for students to do if they want to learn more about the world of Harry Potter.

“I like the historical aspect,” Binger said. “But I would really love to see a Harry Potter literature class. Other universities are offering the class. We should have one.”

The exhibit will be in the lobby of the Tomlinson Library until October 6. For more information about the exhibit please visit http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/harrypottersworld/index.html.