In the News & Observer today, we have the story of Wilson Library, UNC Chapel Hill's historic keeper of so many state records.

The library is operating quite inefficiently these days, thanks to some severe restrictions placed upon it by the state fire marshal's office, which inspected last year and found a slew of violations of the current fire code.

Essentially, the building needs, at minimum, $12 million in retrofitting to get back up to speed, and given the current economy, that isn't likely.

So the building will remain, for the time being, in a very inefficient limbo.

Read all about it here.

Ever wonder what Albert Einstein's autograph looks like? How about Thomas Jefferson's? George Washington?

An upcoming event at UNC Chapel Hill's Wilson Library may satisfy your curiosity. The university is digging out some of its most interesting historical pieces from its rare collections for a quick viewing Feb. 17.

It's called "Open Stacks: Behind the Scenes in the Southern Historical Collection, Southern Folklife Collection and the University Archives of Wilson LIbrary." If you go, you'll get a guided tour by a member of the collections staff.

The event runs from 5 to 7 p.m. and is on the fourth floor of Wilson Library. I asked Biff Hollingsworth, collecting and public programming archivist for the Southern Historical Collection, for some details. Click "Read More" to read what he had to say.