In the library on 11th September 2001
Some time ago (i.e several years), I mentioned the experience of working in the library at the time of the 9/11 attacks. The library serves the main campus of a new university (at the time it was still a “university college” of around 10,000 students, and this would have been just before the start of term. I had been in post for a year, and it was the day of the annual library staff meeting (a tradition which we no longer maintain due to the perceived need to keep absolutely full service going all year round). Three staff were left behind in the library foyer to attend to any students or academic who happened to wander in and the rest of us went off to the meeting which was as exciting as such meetings generally are.
Half way through the meeting, there was a change of shift, with a few people disappearing back to the library while those who had been on duty came back up. Or should have come back up. Only one of the three made it to the meeting venue, and she looked rather shaken. When asked what was wrong, she simply said that there had been a plane crash in New York and I’m afraid we thought nothing more of it – plane crashes are unusual and tragic, of course, but not extraordinary enough to interrupt a staff meeting, surely?
The Singing Librarian Talks 