Nov12

open book.

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this is what happened when a swedish library accidentally left a door open

 

The Gothenburg City Library in Sweden was supposed to be closed last Saturday, but staffers accidentally left a door unlocked. One might imagine that could lead to thievery or destruction, but what actually happened was quite the opposite: Residents simply used the library as usual.

The city said nearly 450 people visited the library that day and 246 books were borrowed. “Nothing was destroyed. It’s absolutely fantastic that you as a Gothenburger come into an empty library and treat it so lovingly,” operations manager Anna Carin Elf told radio station P4 Gothenburg, per the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

Arvid Jadenius was among the visitors, alongside his wife and 2-year-old son, and didn’t know anything was amiss until he saw the news on social media.

“It felt good that everyone behaved exactly as usual, they borrowed books, read the newspaper, and so on,” he said in an interview with Göteborgs-Posten, adding, “The citizens of Gothenburg take care of their library. There is obviously a desire to be there.”

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“the only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.”
-albert einstein

 

 

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source credits: P4 Gothenberg radio, Dagens Nyheter

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93 responses »

  6. Yes, it is an amazing story. But it really shouldn’t be. This is the way the world should be. Everybody doing what is right.
    I have moved several times … more than I wanted to … and each time one of the first things to do is get a library card. I don’t get out and around to use it much anymore, but have it ready in my billfold. :)

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  7. Awesome members of the ‘books are a gift to ourselves’, value them highly…My first thought was wondering if this happened in the states, would people approach an open library with the same deference and respect

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  14. What a terrific story…in the same vein, I read once that the Japanese did an experiment to see what would happen if 500 yen was left on a subway seat untended…when they came back two hours later, there was no longer 500 yen on the seat….there was hundreds of yen more! Seems people thought someone was needing to collect money and so they gave! Nice to read stories like yours that showcase the goodness that still exists in our world…

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  39. I searched online for a while but couldn’t find any evidence that Einstein actually said “The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.” Probably more sayings are falsely attributed to Einstein than to any other person.

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