Study days

“Guess where I am?” my friend texted me the other day, “Hint: the security was even more displeased with my computer case than was TSA”.

The Reina Sofia library, part of the famous Spanish modern art museum by the same name, is a truly lovely library. One of my very favorites, in fact. It’s dead silent, warm, and always full of exceptionally studious art history enthusiasts. I’ve never seen so many well-lit books. They have, however, a seemingly extreme security prerogative. You are required to show a government issued ID just to get in— I get by with my (expired) California drivers license, but the production of an unrecognized ID often prompts a re-reading of the rule book— and then you are asked to take only your study materials into the library proper, leaving your coat and bag in lockers by the front desk. While you are allowed to leave the library for a quick smoke or cup of coffee during your time, you will ONLY be given your jacket and bag back when you decide to leave the library for good. Bringing any type of food into the library is forbidden, of course, (this, amusingly enough, leads to the smuggling of small food items, ie nuts, dried fruit, power bars… which are then eaten in the sanctuary of the bathroom. I am NOT the only one…) but even water bottles are prohibited. Despite these uncomfortable measures, however, it really is a great place to study, and I spend almost every Friday there.

This past Friday, as I was packing my things back into my bag in preparation to leave, I managed to forget my computer charger. I only discovered my mistake once I had arrived home, just minutes from the library’s closing time, so I hurriedly called the front desk to explain my situation. Yes, they had my charger, they told me, and I could come pick it up on Monday. This morning, then, I walked into the library around opening time and revealed myself to be the girl who had left her computer charger. Perhaps you can imagine, now, the security excitement that surrounded my trying to get it back. It was a good thirty minutes of phone calls and radio conversations between the various officials, a trip to what I can only imagine is their underground lost and found vault, and at least three separate ID checks. It’s even possible that they’re learning how to spell “Tajha”. For all this, though, I can assuredly say that my computer charger has never been so well guarded in its life. If it weren’t such a hassle to get things back, I’d consider keeping more of my belongings at the Reina Sofia library…