I sat in the futuristic auditorium surrounded by the great and good of the British Library. Above each pod was an electronic name tag that identified its occupant. Since they shared the same surname, I wondered whether the woman on stage was married to the one who was sitting next to me.

The presentation was fascinating. Who knew that the British Library’s biggest investment was a hotel chain? I was also delighted to hear that one of my innovation proposals was to be adopted. Henceforth all library and information science articles would be published in the same journal rather than scattered across a range of titles.