Interesting Facts

The University of Texas in San Antonio (UTSA) has opened the first completely bookless library on a university campus in the US. (The library in the engineering department seats 80 people and holds 425,000 e-books and 18,000 e-journal subscriptions. And the students don't have to worry about books already being out on loan, they simply download whatever they want, whenever they want. What bliss!)

Oxford University's Bodleian Library is entitled to a copy of every book published in the UK. (Not surprisingly they've been running out of space (around 1,000 new books arrive each day), but they now have a warehouse big enough to store eight million books - which is enough space for about 20 years. And I thought I had a storage problem!)

A library book borrowed by the first U.S. president, George Washington, has been returned to New York City's oldest library, 221 years late. (I'm so glad I won't be paying that particular fine.)

Villagers from Westbury-sub-Mendip in Somerset, England, can use the library around the clock, selecting books, DVDs and CDs. (What's so interesting about that? Well the "library" in questions is a traditional red phone box, one of those things that you imagine when you think of England, which has been recycled into one of the country's smallest lending libraries - with over 100 books, CDs and DVDs.)

A new library scheme in England, Wales and Northern Ireland means that wherever you are you can borrow a book, simply by using your local library card. (What a fantastic idea! It means that even if you're on holiday you can still use the local library. Of course you have to take any books you've borrowed back to the library you borrowed them from, but even so... I'm tempted to go back to England.)