Destruction of the Leitner library <spoiler warning>
Sept 15, 2016 23:21:22 GMT
cannonlongshot likes this
Post by kea on Sept 15, 2016 23:21:22 GMT
Edit: now with correct spelling in the title.
In the grand tradition of overthinking things and the fact that I refuse to shut up about library science, I've been pondering the destruction of the original Leitner libray. "Kill it with fire" seems to be a theme for this podcast, it would seem to be the most obvious way to dispose of the books (Gerard Kaey does it, after all). Except for the fact that libraries are hard to burn down, or at least, books in a library are tricky to destroy completely. I remember a conversation I had with a fireman uncle, discussing this. Apparently if the books are on shelves not enough oxygen circulates to get through and destroy each individual book - there's a more technical explanation of that here. So perhaps what they did was what's suggested in the article - treat the books like logs and throw them into a bonfire. Seems a bit slapdash for the Institute, though. I suspect it *didn't* go smoothly - even with "lesser" Leitners (those actually destroyed, as opposed to the ones that were "too powerful to own" and found by Harold Silvana and co.) Gerard Kaey, I think, would have been protected by his mysterious tattoos when he got rid of "Ex altiora."
Archives, however, are very susceptible to fire. We obviously don't know what the Archives look like - these days I imagine a lot of it is stored digitally. As a note, a lot of digital records are hard to access, as their files are only accessible by the original software. But if it's anything like this here, with the cardboard boxes would go up very quickly. I assume there's a sprinkler system, which would protect the records - sort of. Depends on the fire and whether the system actually works.
I might write a wiki entry on the state of the Archives, if only for my own enjoyment.
In the grand tradition of overthinking things and the fact that I refuse to shut up about library science, I've been pondering the destruction of the original Leitner libray. "Kill it with fire" seems to be a theme for this podcast, it would seem to be the most obvious way to dispose of the books (Gerard Kaey does it, after all). Except for the fact that libraries are hard to burn down, or at least, books in a library are tricky to destroy completely. I remember a conversation I had with a fireman uncle, discussing this. Apparently if the books are on shelves not enough oxygen circulates to get through and destroy each individual book - there's a more technical explanation of that here. So perhaps what they did was what's suggested in the article - treat the books like logs and throw them into a bonfire. Seems a bit slapdash for the Institute, though. I suspect it *didn't* go smoothly - even with "lesser" Leitners (those actually destroyed, as opposed to the ones that were "too powerful to own" and found by Harold Silvana and co.) Gerard Kaey, I think, would have been protected by his mysterious tattoos when he got rid of "Ex altiora."
Archives, however, are very susceptible to fire. We obviously don't know what the Archives look like - these days I imagine a lot of it is stored digitally. As a note, a lot of digital records are hard to access, as their files are only accessible by the original software. But if it's anything like this here, with the cardboard boxes would go up very quickly. I assume there's a sprinkler system, which would protect the records - sort of. Depends on the fire and whether the system actually works.
I might write a wiki entry on the state of the Archives, if only for my own enjoyment.