h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

People leave the most ridiculous things in the library. This morning I walked past the Lost and Found box and discovered a pair of those fuzzy dice that people hang over their rearview mirrors. Why would someone bring them inside the library in the first place?

We also acquired yet another naked Barbie doll this week. No one ever leaves a clothed Barbie doll.

"Sally, where are the clothes for your doll?"
"I don't know, Mummy. I guess I've lost them all."
"You know what this means, don't you? Barbie will have to go to the library to live."

Its good that library's exist in the form they do, a resposotory for all the best things......

Oh dear Ohhhhh dear *wipes tears from eyes* will have to go to the library to live. Oy vey. I haven't laughed so hard in ages.

We never get naked dolls in our library. Naked students, once, but no dolls. *sigh*

Is the *sigh* because you want naked dolls or because you prefer naked students? Among the rules for library conduct over here is 'you must wear a shirt and shoes'. I think it never occured to them that someone would come without pants.

Indeed "Will go..."

Those are probably the fuzzy dice that were hanging from the rear view mirror of the mint condition yellow and white '55 Chevy in another thread.

Maybe you should stock up on Barbie clothes and sell them to the owners of the naked Barbies--

I can't do that, Lady C. It would ruin the tradition.

I'm still jealous of David B for having such interesting bookmarks left behind in their volumns.

I left a baby picture of myself in a library book once. The librarian actually figured out who it was and called me and she was a nit wit! (Still is for that matter)

She's such a tart, that Barbie. Wherever she is in the world, she can't wait to get her kit off. Though to be fair, Action Man's not much better.

Notes left in libraries : I found one the other day, beautifully handwritten in proper ink in the flypapers of a local history book. Dated 1965, saying that father was the person referred to on such-and-such a page and great-grandfather on another. Not interesting in itself, except that it was probably someone talking from the grave. Something compelled me to initial and date it, and I guess I'll be checking in future now to see if others do so too.

Yes, I know it's a disgraceful act of vandalism.

Funny thing about the notes in that book. As I said, handwriting lovely, but at the same time spelling and grammar cringe-makingly bad. I don't know if schools taught so much in those days, but they certainly moulded people.

I have always wondered about Barbie. There are so many naked Barbies around, what is it about? Naked with absolutely wild hair. Maybe it is because it is so easy to get the clothes off and not that easy to get them on.

I have Barbie's comb!

Found it in the backyard some years ago...detritus of the previous occupants...I find it works adequately as a moustache comb.

We don't get Barbies, but in an incident unrelated to the interesting bookmark, we did once find a pair of knickers in the video viewing room.

You don't have any Barbies? How extraordinary. What on earth do you do with naked Barbies in the UK then?

Probably serve them with an ASBO...

Good one.

What did you do with the knickers? It would be interesting to know if anyone came in to claim them.

Nobody claimed the knickers to my knowledge. They were kept in the lost property box in a plastic bag with a sticker on saying 'knickers'. It made us all and every time we looked in the box. Eventually it went up to the main campus lost property store - one assumes they have since been binned. Or incinerated, like the book with the 'bookmark' was.

People. Can't live with them, can't live without them. It would be nice to have a library where no one was actually allowed inside except the staff. People would have to call in orders then come to a pick up point to get them.

Actually, the library at UCBerkley is totally closed stacks. People are allowed in the lobby and the reference area, though. Otherwise, you go to the desk and tell them what books you want and someone goes and gets them. They are very quick, and apparently they save so much money on Not Stolen Not Lost books that they can afford the extra staff.

The British Library works in much the same way, but they have an awful lot of stuff that you wouldn't want random members of the public to be allowed within spitting distance of.