All workplaces have their rules and procedures for staff, and libraries are no different.

We recently came across a volume of old staff instructions, and some of them are so odd that we had to share them with you.

How about this for starters:

Our procedures for new members of staff have changed over the years as well:

And woe betide you if your essay was written in a slovenly hand:

That would be me shelving books then…  though I’d have to treat the dusty ones properly and not be ‘foolish’:

Look out for more historic staff instructions soon, including guidance on dealing with young people. And ‘foreigners’.