But it's all a ploy, really. Librarians just want to keep the Library for themselves - to be first at the newly arrived Harry Potter, to meander through the unbroken order of the shelves, to put on Sherlock Holmes hats and track down obscure references or fleeting facts or the latest tool from Google in PEACE AND QUIET without some sticky first year asking them about the sociolgy assignment that was due last week.
More than anything else - the Mountain, the redwings, Winnie's coffee - it's been the Library that stops me leaving UCT. And, so long as the secret is kept and word doesn't get out that libraries are fun places, really, it's the ideal refuge from overdue budgets and ringing phones and unceasing email. In amongst the ordered shelves, there's still plenty of space to hide.