Libraries are sexy
I continue to spend my days at the British Library. I hope they don't mind, but I now think of it as my office. I love it here. It's like being an exile on an island of literacy and good manners. Except the tweedy, hushed, respectful exterior masks crime and seediness. Today we made the news. Oh yes we did. This big, boring old library full of books and old men and students and laptops! A press release was left on every desk in the reading rooms, to keep us all in the loop. It said:Mr Farhad Hakimzadeh, a former British Library Reader, is due to appear at Wood Green Court today (Friday 21 November). Hakimzadeh has pleaded guilty to ten counts of theft from the Library, and asked for further charges to be taken into account. He has also admitted theft from the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Sentencing in this case is expected later today and you may have seen coverage of the case in this morning's press.
I might have flicked past this story in the past, but not now that I am a British Library Reader! (I always think of the Bill Hicks line: "Looks like we got ourselves a reader!") Mr Hakimzadeh "used considerable skill, deceit and determination" to remove pages, plates (not that kind) and maps from collection items. We're not just talking pages from a Dan Brown novel, these were mainly 16th, 17th and 18th century books on West European engagement with Mesopotamia, Persia and the Mughal empire. With the precision of a surgeon, he scalpeled the pages out very close to the spine, so that their absence was undetectable to the naked eye.
The CEO of the library said, "We are committed to making our collections available in the interests of scholarship and research, and to do this an element of trust is necessary. Hakimzadeh fundamentally betrayed this trust." Fucker. The library's press release is suitably sober. The Guardian went big on the story and made much of the fact that the dirty, rotten scoundrel was a "Harvard-educated businessman, publisher and intellectual." Apparently, he defaced 150 books, and caused 400 grand's worth of damage - which is in itself an imperfect figure as many of the books are literally irreplaceable, and are thus beyond costing up. Police raided his home in Knightsbridge and found some of the pages just stuck inside books he already owned. He wasn't flogging them on the black market, he just seems to have wanted them.
Having come in and out of the reading rooms like I own them for a few weeks now, I am at a loss as to how the evil "tome raider" (not my joke) managed it. I myself came up against security this very Wednesday. There are strict rules about what you may and may not bring in: no bags, no coats, no umbrellas, no food, no flasks, no chewing gum, no cameras, no sharp implements, no pens or highlighters ... it looks like it would be nigh-on impossible to get entire pages or plates (not that kind) or maps out of here. You have to carry your laptop and admissable items in a supplied, transparent British Library plastic bag. On Wednesday, I had planned to post my Dad's birthday card in King's Cross on my way to the office. I couldn't see a post box so I asked in the Library. The man told me there was a post box in the basement. I took my card there and saw that the only collection was at 5pm, so I decided instead to keep the card with me and post it somewhere with an earlier collection at lunchtime. I popped it in my supplied, transparent plastic bag and went into the reading room.
On my way out for a screen-break, I took the card with me, intending to take it to my locker and put it in my other bag. However, the security guard stopped me as I attempted to gaily skip past him. He asked to look at the envelope. I told him it was a birthday card for my dad. He told me that it was "policy" to open any sealed envelope being taken out of the reading rooms. (I understand why - I could have been sending folded-up pages or plates or maps to my dad - the perfect crime.) I groaned audibly, and felt really stupid for taking it in there without thinking. He sort of shook and felt the envelope, and said, "In this instance I am going to use my discretion and not open it." This was very decent of him. I took my card and left, feeling all hot and guilty, even though I hadn't done anything wrong. I am not very good at breaking rules. It doesn't really suit me.
Anyway, that's the kind of excitement you get up here in the British Library. What a life I lead.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 12:25 PM
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That story reminds me of Joe Orton's vandalising of books at Islington Library. That was funnier though.
Can I claim a Marvel style 'no-prize' for spotting a Cursor Minor lyric in the title Cursor Miner - Library
This isn't the first time this has happened to the British Library... (See this Guardian article from 2006: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/sep/15/books.ukcrime ) perhaps they need some metal detectors rather than birthday card inspectors!
"In this instance I am going to use my discretion" - It's these people who keep the world sane.
Unless you were smuggling out valuable book pages, in which case you've both let us down very badly.
flipping heck andrew...I go to lunch for just an hour and you've already posted two new blog entries! Im still not caught up on the Podcast one, so just in case you are no longer reading the responses there, I just wanted to remind you that back in Podcast 36 (I think) you said that you were going to the Ivy and that you would give us 'a report' in a future podcast...well that was over three weeks ago...and with all the RH mocking about his M&S foods, I thought that perhaps a reminder about your planned Ivy vist might bring you down from that rather tall horse of yours ;)
I went to the Ivy and it was a bit disappointing - not the meal, or the company, but the fact that we were in the private dining room, not the main restaurant, and I couldn't star-spot, as I'd hoped. I think I saw Sean Pertwee as I was leaving. Hardly worth reporting on the podcast!
I saw Sean Pertwee drinking with Johnny Lee Miller in The Angelic, Islington. They were having a very intense conversation, which leads me to believe they are having an affair.
It's a parallel universe British Library. The one I know is just like but an exact mirror image.
It is supposed to look like a ship you know...
British Library Ship
Have you seen the Taking Liberties exhibition yet? I went to see Joan Bakewell interview Shami Chakrabarti as part of it. She really is excellent, and so inspiring.
I met Shami Chakrabarti at the CNN Election Night party and she was enthusing about the indie records she'd chosen for Desert Island Discs. Really inspiring in what she does and what she believes in, but also very nice in real life. And tiny. (I loved Joan Bakewell's autobiography too.)
The British Library is my home from home when I'm in London, usually Humanities 2 by the Sound Archive bookshelves. Thieving bastards like your man baffle me. The whole point of the place is that you consult the books then leave them there, unmolested, so future generations can too. I haven't been there since they started the free wi-fi. I have a horrible feeling I'll be getting far less done on future visits.
Andy, your face is sexy.
Clive, I borrowed the pic from a BBC news story, which didn't seem to have a copyright warning on it. Anyway, they must have flipped it.
Louis, the free wi-fi is a boon and a curse. I find myself blogging in there quite a bit when I should be reading or working. I have at least weaned myself off taking the laptop out to the coffee shop! I'm a Humanities 1 man. I just like the sheer amount of silent people.
"It's like being an exile on an island of literacy and good manners."
Just how I feel when I'm lurking round your blog! Politest place on the internet. I mean that in the nicest possible way. Well, obviously.
I love that Bill Hicks line too. I guess you don't want to end up as a fucking waffle waitress either ?
Just to add to the list of 'I saw Sean Pertwee' stories - early evening this summer, dining in Zizzi in London (Goodge Street, to be precise) with a female companion. There were papers all over the table so would guess she was his agent. The voice jumped out at me first, what a sexy man.
Speaking of free books, I was in Waterstones on Saturday and came across a Mitford book in the 3 for 2 offer (needed to get a third 'free' one) - it had a pink cover with a sort of elegant cartoon on the cover. Is that a good Mitty book?
Anyway, I bottled out and bought Austerity Britain instead.
Also thought I could have bought the Andrew Collins book, but as you're on a percentage of the sale figure, you would have received bugger all.
Shami Chakrabarti chose records by Kaiser Chiefs and The Enemy. Neither is on an indie label and both are rubbish.
I quite like her, mind you.
As a trainee librarian it's always comforting to see the libraries described as sexy by someone outside the field (librarians keep trying it, but it never seems to convince others).
I used to spend days in libraries and wrote for various magazines. I loved libraries as well. It was interesting reading you blog, I hated people who stole pages.
I noticed you mentioned your dads birthday card, by coincidence I do a website, SendMyCard. so next year, you can always just go online in the library and have your Happy Birthday Dad sent for you, it may even cost less than buying one from a shop, as some of the cards are sold at 'less than the price code' (cards shops equivalent to RRP). Have a nice day, Cath
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