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MUSICAL interlude to start this month’s edition of Mediawatching. Over on Twitter (aka X, by Elon Musk), and @
BenPhillips76 has posted a video of an Edmontonian worker making the most of his local library. Archie Gould, of Venger Electrostatic Coating, is seen at a piano, dressed in his overalls and hard hat after spotting the instrument in the window of a public library he was working near.
He said: “I’d told my co-workers for years I played piano, but never had an opportunity to show them.” You can watch the video at https://tinyurl. com/mr3zwtxr.
Sticking with musical entertainment, we head to the Britain’s Got Talent stage and librarian Robert Statham’s performance on a recent episode. Racking up almost quarter of a million views on YouTube (
www.youtube.com/ watch?v=K-5f6gFGFgI) Robert embraced a few librarian stereotypes for a tongue- in-cheek rap to celebrate the benefits of a visit to your local library. Despite getting a red cross from Simon Cowell, Robert did enough to impress the other judges on the panel and went through to the next round. Catch his progress on future editions of BGT. Continuing with the theme of advocating for library service, this time in the slightly more sober pages of Varsity magazine and an interview with Dr Jessica Gardner, Cambridge University Librarian. The spotlight lands on Jessica’s role running the University Library, and she takes the opportunity to extol the virtues of being a librarian, saying: “Honestly I do have the best job in the world, but when you lead an organisation you know all the good bits are because of the skill and talent of the staff team you work with.” Read the full interview at
www.varsity.
co.uk/interviews/26123. Mediawatching has mixed feelings about the next item of news. On the one hand, it is a library closure (of
June 2024 A bent spoon.
sorts), but on the other it means more good beer is available in the world... Chicago’s Daily Tribune reports that the home of the non-profit Mundelein Tool Library in downtown Mundelein has been sold off, netting the local council $450,000 in the process. The building has been home to the tool library for four years, but in a blow for DIYers and boost for drinkers the new owners will be transforming the premises into a microbrewery. Full story at
https://tinyurl.com/mw5m9fe8. Next to Scotland and a tale from journalist Katherine Hay, who is walking around Scotland throughout 2024 and reporting on the issues she finds on her travels. In the latest instalment of Hay’s Way she explains how she had been using a public library to catch up on work, saying: “I gave a nod and a ‘thank you’ to the man on reception as I was leaving the building’s main room. But just before heading out the front door, I went to use the toilet before making my way to the town’s campsite for the night.” Unfortunately for Katherine her last-minute toilet break left her in an unfortunate predicament – locked in Kirkcudbright Library. She writes: “It was a bank holiday Monday, so I understand staff were keen to get out the door, but perhaps a little too keen for they failed to check if anyone was still in.
“After trying all the doors I could find, I called out ‘hello’ several times. I was met with an eerie silence. And then all the lights went off. I tried the main front door again, and rattled it while knocking on it a couple of times on the off chance someone might be outside and hear the slight dilemma I was in. Nothing.” Apparently the worst part of the incident was that she was locked in an area that did not have any books. Find out if she ever escaped from the library, or if she is still there at
https://tinyurl.com/ yc8xspha.
Finally a late book return story with a celebrity twist. Famed “psychic” and “spoon bender” Uri Geller revealed that he discovered a copy of a book he had borrowed from a Los Angeles public library in 1977. He says that the book turned up as he was searching for two Ming dynasty vase lids in some old storage boxes in Israel.
Fortunately, returning the book was not so difficult, as his daughter lives near LA and so was able to take it back to her local library. And instead of a fine (the library service has stopped charging for late returns), she was allowed to keep the book, which had been withdrawn from shelves some years ago – and the title of the books? The Geller Papers. Read the full story at
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ cpvvev27nzqo. IP
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