Happy National Libraries Day to you! The secret is out. At GWL LOL does not mean Laugh Out Loud. Though we do laugh a lot. Remember those Suffragette postcards? Well, here’s another to make you laugh too.
Nor does LOL in GWL mean Lots of Love, though we have love a-plenty to spread around.
But as Danny Scott from SBT – and this Danny is a man – correctly guessed a couple of days ago, LOL at GWL means nothing less than
LOVE OUR LIBRARY!
But that’s not all I have to reveal today. Remember a couple of days ago I wrote about all the amazing things hidden in the archive boxes. Well, here’s an intriguing one…
From the photo you’d think it was simply a pocket watch, but it’s much bigger than that, made of solid glass, and is roughly the size and shape of a cricket ball. Like a cricket ball it nestles beautifully in the palm of the hand (male or female? Had my husband brought it home when I was hoping for the vote I might have clobbered him with it). But as you can see, it has a decorative brass winder at the top ,and inside the solid globe is a clock face. Turn it over and you can observe the time-piece workings. What’s more, as much as it’s a functioning time-piece, it’s also a paperweight.
But why was it made? Look at that poor soul depicted on the clock face. Exhausted, depressed… locked in for all eternity with two howling babbies. And the letters where the numerals should be? Is this to suggest, albeit in a jocular way, that to give votes to women is to turn the clock back? Look at those mirror-imaged letters. The work of the devil surely? Votes for women going against the natural order of things? Or perhaps you read this differently… I’d love to know what you think.
Next week I’ll be posting again about what we have on our bookshelves and in our archives, as well as spilling more secrets about what the amazing women who come into GWL get up to. If you’d like to receive an email letting you know when there’s a new post then subscribe by email here. Or get notification in your RSS reader of choice here. Please share with friends too!
Have a wonderful National Libraries Day and Happy Reading!
Magi
PS And why not take a photo of yourself reading a book and tweet it with the hashtag #nldscot to show how much we all value books and libraries.
NB Images copyrighted
