The World’s Silliest Guiness Record Will Take Place on Sunday in Lebanon

I read this item in today’s Daily Star and I was intrigued:

The Guinness Book of World Records will declare Baaqlin National Library the library with the largest number of books exchanged among patrons.

That was bizarre. Could it be? The small library of a Lebanese town in the mountains is the one where most people have exchanged books in the whole wide world? Not the Library of congress? (30,011,748 volumes). Not the Harvard Library? (15,555,533) or the Boston Public Library? (15,458,022) (source). What gives?

Then I read more closely:

a large number of civil, youth and women organizations will participate. Those attending will bring books to exchange with one another

Ohhh… So it will be the world’s largest simultaneous exchange of books. The Baaqlin municipality will bring a large number of people together and will ask them all to exchange books at the same time. This is even sillier than the world’s largest blood drop. No wonder Lebanese tourism is in decline.

What’s wrong with these people? I’m starting to blame the Guinness guys. They should sit with the Lebanese making those silly requests and tell them that the point of their book is to register actual, impressive records that are hard to beat. Not make up weird competitions that are easy to win.

But why should they care? The library of Baaqlin has probably placed an order for a hundred copies of their next edition.