The staff at the Holborn Library in London are apparently very worried about the risk of being attacked by library patrons, so they won’t even lend scissors:
Lorna Watts, 26, a self-employed dressmaker, was turned down at Holborn Library in central London.
She said: “It’s ridiculous — public libraries are supposed to be supportive of small businesses.”
A spokeswoman for Camden Council, which runs the library, has apologised and said it would investigate the incident.
Ms Watts, from Islington, north London, said: “I asked why I couldn’t borrow a pair of scissors and she said, ‘they are sharp, you might stab me’.
“I then asked to borrow a guillotine to cut up my leaflets but she refused again — because she said I could hit her over the head with it!”
The way Britain has been going, I’m surprised they didn’t hit Ms. Watts with an ASBO for the implied threat here: “It’s absurd — there are plenty of heavy books I could have hit her with if I wanted to.”
