On my travels I have met many librarians, all of whom have some story to tell about their front line service, dealing with unusual situations, some of which still have no clear explanation.

Here are a few:

From a British library in West Midlands:

John Major was on the Radio talking about Anthony Trollope, so as is normal in these circumstances, a customer comes in asking to see some work of his. Quick as a flash, the librarian asks the assistant: "Madge*, can you show this good gentlemen the trollops?"

Submitted May 2012

Also from the same British library in the West Midlands:

The toilets in libraries are always a bane, as they need sorting and policing, never a happy task. On morning it was observed that two men (one with a camera), one woman a dog all trooped into the toilets. The librarian marched up and banged on the door.
'It's disgusting!' she said angrily, 'Come out at once!'
When a muffled 'what?' came from within, the librarian said she knew what they were up to and would be calling the police if they didn't leave the building immediately. It then transpired that they weren't making a porno movie, but were a group doing a Disability Discrimination Act Audit looking at accessibility, and the dog, of course, was a guide dog for the woman, who was visually impaired.

Submitted May 2012

* Names have been changed. If you have a wild library story that you can share (anomnity guranteed) then send it to me: jasper(at)jasperfforde.com