At the library Valerie Stewart was sitting at a computer with a pleasant young man who was eagerly pointing out things on the screen and explaining the brave new world which was coming to their online services. Abigail smiled as she walked past, and thankfully a customer was standing at the returns desk thereby preventing Valerie from roping her into their discussion. Once she had dealt with the customer, the library was quiet and so Abigail sat down at one of the other computer screens and brought up a list of all of the libraries in the country. Scrolling down the list there was page after page of names, addresses and contact details for the public libraries in the United Kingdom. She was still trying to figure out in her head the best way to go about this. She knew what she wanted to do but just wasn’t quite sure how to do it without seeming either mad or raising too many questions. If I send an email to all of the libraries and ask them to check their local newspapers for any article on Milton Scott then I could get some information which could be useful. Although I don’t want anyone to search on the internet for the details in case that still triggers off any alert that he might be able to see. She sat back on her chair and closed her eyes for a moment before a smile came across her face and she leaned forward again and started typing a new email:
Dear Colleagues,
My name is Abigail Craig and I work at the library in the wonderful city of Stirling. We have been approached here by the regional police headquarters for our help in a project which they tell me is possibly of national importance. The premise is this; what if the internet went down due to being subjected to cyber attacks, how could they in the police and the security services still pool news and local information from around the country? What they have realised is that with the library network across the country, we are already the gatekeepers for a huge amount of information, both local and national, and in times of emergency if the library network were to be mobilised to collate local information and keep a central point advised then the overall picture in the country could still be tracked.
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that in an age when we in the libraries are under increasing threat from cutbacks and online services, it is an honour that one of the true values of our own service has been realised, not to mention the key role we play in education and introducing our next generations to literature and knowledge.
The police have requested that we contact all of you and ask you to carry out the following test, by way of manual means only. This could be through local word of mouth or with your resources of local newspapers which are routinely gathered at the moment. The information they have requested, which has been randomly selected as a test, is thus:
• Check for any information in your area from the last six months on a businessman by the name of Milton Scott.
• Check for any information in your area from the last six months on antiques or collectible items being stolen in your local areas.
When you have checked this, the articles are to be copied and emailed back to us here so that we can collate and pass them back to the police headquarters. Since we are competing with the internet, and not to mention because it is a chance for us to display just how valuable we are, they have asked us to respond by tomorrow noon to see how the network can perform.
Good luck to you all and let’s show them what we can do!
Yours sincerely,
Abigail Craig
Senior Librarian, Stirling Library
Abigail read over the email, wondering if this was just getting a little out of hand now that she was involving the entire country in their madness. But, at the same time, if this got them the information they needed to prove or disprove their theory then it would be worth it. Abigail spun her chair around and watched as the young man was still pointing out new things on the computer screen and telling Valerie how the future of the library would be secured by providing more services online to the public. Valerie glanced over towards Abigail, an exasperated look on her face and her eyes pleading for help. Abigail picked up the cue and let out a painful groan, stopping the man mid-sentence, and he turned to face her. She gave him her best pained expression, not altogether unconvincing although to the casual onlooker it would be difficult to know if it was a heart attack or constipation, which perhaps added to its strength. ‘I’m sorry Valerie, I’ll have to go to the doctor about this pain, remember I was telling you about it?’
‘Oh yes Abigail, I remember,’ she would have been a natural in an amateur dramatics performance. ‘Off you go and I can handle things here. I think Mr Bristow is just about finished now?’ They both looked at him and he looked from one to the other.
‘Erm, well I could go on …’
Valerie stood up. ‘I’m sure, however we’re just about to get to our busy time with the kids coming in after school so we’ll need to call it a day. I’ll get your coat.’ She hurriedly helped him on with his coat and showed him down the steps and on to the street, before he really knew what was happening.
Abigail laughed as she came back in. ‘We’ll never get to heaven Val.’
‘Nope. So what were you beavering away on there?’
‘Just some information I need from the other libraries, nothing special, just a project I’m working on. There might be some emails in for me tomorrow morning just in case you get them before me.’ Valerie eyed her suspiciously but Abigail scooped up her coat before she could ask further and said goodbye, then stepped out onto the street.