No browsing allowed

Stephen came home with a fun story. Off the main square in our neighbourhood of Barranco is a public library. It is quite an inviting-looking building.

The inside is a bit different. The main space is full of wooden tables and stiff-backed chairs, and… no books. Instead there is a little counter you can approach to request books that are all carefully shelved and out of reach. No browsing allowed. The way Stephen tells it, a very bored-looking Book Guard (aka librarian) was reading his newspaper to pass the time. Maybe he’s not allowed to touch the books either…

After that story I insisted we go back for the photo, but sadly the librarian wasn’t reading his newspaper that day.

If you look closely you can see the well-protected books on the shelves in the back room.