The worst of times: Trouble at the British Library

"Outside the entrance to the red brick library, around 130 employees chant in unison, blow on brightly coloured plastic horns and cheer when passing drivers honk in support. Money, Money, Money by ABBA blasts out of a surprisingly powerful portable speaker. Yet beneath the jovial atmosphere is a sense of profound exasperation. I don't want to be out here dancing on a picket line. I want to be in there, doing my job, and getting a decent wage for it, says one library assistant."

"Inside the library, all is quiet. Its 11 reading rooms are closed for the week of the strike, leaving users to work on their laptops in the cafeterias or corridors. But regulars have grown used to disruption. The library is still recovering from a devastating cyber attack two years ago, which razed many of its core services to the ground. With over 200million items in its collection, The British Library's catalogue is the largest in the world."

Librarians at the British Library staged a strike in King's Cross, chanting, blowing horns and playing ABBA's 'Money, Money, Money'. Eleven reading rooms closed for the week, forcing users to work in cafeterias and corridors. Staff voiced frustration about low pay and managerial disconnect, preferring to work rather than picket. The library continues recovering from a devastating cyber attack two years earlier that destroyed core services. The collection exceeds 200 million items, including Shakespeare's first folio, Jane Austen's glasses and a lock of Percy Shelley's hair, and occupies over 400 miles of shelving and a robot-operated storage facility in Yorkshire. Executives published a seven-year 'Knowledge Matters' manifesto promoting openness and fairness, yet staff report gross mismanagement and woeful pay.

Read at www.standard.co.uk