Harvard Raises the Bars

One of the Harvard dormitories abruptly decided to bar their books. Nearly every shelf has two brass bars fixed to it lengthwise, preventing anyone from stealing the books on the shelf. Or, you know... reading them.

Apparently, some of the old, valuable books were being stolen, so the University needed a cheap way to secure the books. They've promised to move the less valuable books off the barred shelves. I can see bars being cheaper than chaining the books to the shelves, but I agree maybe some locked glass doors that a librarian could open would work well enough and actually allow the books to be read. I guess that doesn't happen with e-books.

The best part is how Harvard went about doing this without telling anyone they were going to. Like maybe the students wouldn't notice the brass bars or something, or would think the brass bar fairy left them there overnight.

Maybe the whole library was part of an elaborate heist and all the books on the barred shelves are just quick mock-ups, like furniture store displays! The university, having been robbed of millions of dollars worth of books, decides to save face by maintaining a ruse that the books are still there! I think I could almost respect that more than the real reasoning. Also, how cool a heist movie would that be?