Here is a snippet of the conversation I had with one of the two security guards on the door to Humanities 1 at The British Library today:
Security Guard: "You can't take that handcream into the library because you might smear it on our books and the repair work costs thousands of pounds.
Me: "I'm not here to smear handcream on to the books, I am here to read them."
Security Guard (grunts and, with no glint of humour in his eyes, says): "Yeah well, someone might say they want to take a machine gun into the library, but they aren't going to use it."
Me (bewildered): "Excuse me?"
Security Guard (sighs): "If you use the handcream make sure you rub it into your hands before coming back into the reading room."
Me: (I was walking off by this point.)
Unbelievable. I guess the British Library is still reeling from the news that it has managed to "mislay" 9,000 books.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/17/british-library-books-mein-kampf
The irony for me was that in the book I came to read at the BL today, there was a sentence in which the author declared she had taken a book she was sent and did not want to read and submerged it in water.
Cue the resurfacing of the idea of waterproof books!
My Radio Portfolio
3 years ago
3 comments:
They shouldn't let anyone onto the premises with big, strong hands either. They might be used to choke someone. The security guard - for example.
I just read that article about the lost books. That's heart braking, stuff from the 16th Century went missing. Heart braking.
Lol!
Or noisy laptops!
Also, they should get some air freshner in there. The Rare Books and Music Room especially.
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