Jagiellonian Library visit
I had an extra hour today so I went to visit the Jag, my pet name for this enormous building, the "heart" of the oldest Polish university. I made the mistake of going to the front door, only to be told that the front door is now the back door. So I walked around to the other side of the building, which is so big it's in two different zip codes ;-)
I found the door, waltzed in and looked around, first at the JPII stamp display, then at a nice photo exhibit about Heidelberg. I thought I'd dare to go upstairs, but was told by the guard I needed to do something first, "over there." I went over there, and was given a one-day pass. I was pleased to cite my profession as librarian, but guess what: no one cared! Once completed, I took my card to the guard, and was told this time I needed to leave my bag "over there." I went over there, which turned out to be down 2 small flights of steps and to the right. I was asked, yet again, for my passport and given a key. I thought I was getting study carrel, but instead I was directed to a little locker to put away my purse.
I finally was allowed to get on the elevator and went up to the top floor. In the part of the building I was in, there are four floors, or maybe 5, depending on how you count. The top floor, I believe, was a special collections catalog room. I wandered around in there, having registered first, and then walked to the opposite end of the floor, where a staff member was stationed near some kind of conveyer belt. I assume they have a remote storage facility and that this is a pickup point. One floor down I peaked into a semi-darkened window that entered into a really busy area. It appeared to be a huge, old fashioned reading room, but try as I might, I couldn't figure out how to get there. One floor down, the entire space was covered with compact shelving. I ended up back on the main floor, where I stopped for a bottle of water in their cafeteria. As I left the building, I symbolically was kicking myself for not having arranged a tour.
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