A library cleaner giving a locked-down library a deep clean decided to re-shelve all of the books in size order.
Staff at Newmarket Library, Suffolk, discovered the mistake after the building underwent a deep clean.
The library’s manager James Powell said his fellow staff “saw the funny side” but it would take a “bit of time” to put right.
“It looks like libraries will be closed for a while so we’ll have plenty of time to sort the books out. The cleaner is lovely and does a great job in the library. It was an honest mistake and just one of those things so we would never want her to feel bad about it,” he added.
The story became popular after a tweet about the cleaner’s mistake was posted by Krystal Vittles, head of service delivery at Suffolk Libraries, and was shared more than 5,000 times.
“I think people are just pleased to be able to share any light-hearted stories at the moment as it helps to cheer everyone up,” Mr Powell said.
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Library of Congress has long considered shelving books by size. And why not if the collection isn’t open for browsing? It’s better for the books to be shelved with others of similar size.