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S
UMMER is well and truly here, so what better way to kick off Mediawatching than with a story about towels left on sun-loungers
(or the library equivalent). Back in Mediawatching’s Benidorm heyday, we would often head to the pool at midnight to lay out our Union Jack towel on the best sun-lounger. This ensured that when we emerged from our all-inclusive breakfast (full English – extra bacon, extra sausage, extra egg and second helpings), we were guaranteed a prime spot between the pool and the bar, and facing the sun. Inspired by Mediawatching’s foresight, enterprising Chinese students are reportedly copying this ruse in order to snag the best workspaces in libraries and renting them out to fellow students. Times Higher Education (registration required at https://bit. ly/46GYl9a) reports that adverts are appearing on social media offering such delights as “Window seat available on the third floor, with sufficient light day and night”. The advert was posted by a student looking to rent out her own study space over the summer break. According to the report, some Chinese university libraries offer students an annual subscription to a workspace – guaranteeing them a place to work in comfort, at a price. However there is a growing industry of sub-letting – with some students allegedly making a second income from hiring out multiple desks. Next, we have more money-related news and report from the Daily Mail into a cost-of-living money saving “hack”. The newspaper reports on a New South Wales, Australia, resident who has saved thousands of dollars by… joining her local library and borrowing books, instead of buying them. The paper reports on this revolutionary concept, saying: “Leanne is an avid reader but could no longer afford the extra cost of purchasing so many books. The bookworm then started borrowing books from the library and e-library every time she was in the mood for a new read – and has saved thousands in the process. She’s one of many
July-August 2023
Wild Style library card from New York Public Library’s hip hop celebrations. Photo © Jonathan Blanc courtesy of the New York Public Library
including one woman who has saved A$7,000 this year already.” (Although, according to the picture accompanying this line the borrower in question has saved around A$900 this year, and A$7,000 since the started using the library – but who cares about details?) While the concept of borrowing instead of buying may not be as revolutionary as the paper thinks it is, there is a clever idea underpinning the “revelations”. Every time a user borrows a book, they are sent a statement telling them how much they have saved, including an annual amount as well as total savings during the course of their library use. From the benefits of the library, to the potential threats held within them – and no, this is not another case of moral outrage over young minds being exposed to ideas and knowledge. Ray Ward has been in touch to point us to the (digital) archives of
AtlasObscura.com and the story of a discovery of three poisonous books residing on the shelves of the library at University of Southern Denmark. The books in question were discovered in 2018, and featured bright green, painted covers – and it was this that made them potentially lethal. The paint
contained large amounts of arsenic, and academics believe they could have been given the makeover as part of measures to prevent pests, such as mice, making bedding out of them (
https://bit.ly/3D6xiX5). Onto another brightly coloured library item, and news from New York Public Library (NYPL) which has produced a library card inspired by the city’s connection to hip hop. The NYPL is famous for its library cards, and its latest incarnation is a celebration of 50 years of hip hop, which emerged from New York’s streets in the 1970s. As reported by Timeout (
https://bit.ly/3O8KGjS), the vibrant library card resembles a cassette tape cover for the soundtrack to 1983 Hip Hop movie, Wild Style.
Finally, Ernest Jackson has been in touch with a line from Graham Smith’s Abolish the Monarchy, in which he quotes Patrick O’Connor: The constitutional role of the Privy Council, who says: “They are obscurely published as annexes to the annual volume of statutory instruments: it takes a good librarian to find them.” Up for a challenge, Ernest admits he had a go at finding the annexes himself, adding: “May I say, in all smugness, ‘I did’.” IP
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