Monday, June 9, 2008

Adventures in the Library of Congress

I went to the Library of Congress today as the National Anthropological Archives are closed on Mondays.  I think I nearly avoided a lifetime ban from the Main Reading Room.

In the midst of my afternoon, with my pile of books sitting next to my laptop, I heard some noise and fuss next to me.  I was sitting in the last row, up against the wall, with only two other patrons.  By the time I looked up, the lady sitting next to me was packing up her things and whispering loudly to the man next to her in an upset tone, "This is a library!"  Obviously, the man next to her had done something inappropriate.  It was clear that she was getting up to immediately report him to security, but I had visions of her saying to the guard, "the man in the back said something inappropriate to me," causing the guard to flip a coin and ask me, instead of the man next to me, to leave the reading room never to return.  

Thankfully, the accused was given a verbal warning and he picked up and left.  Anyway, I am grateful that the other library patron gave security a detailed description of the man that was bothering her.  Thanks to her description, I will be allowed in to the Library of Congress again next Monday.

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