# Main-entrance post named the University's lost-property office

> A new Slop University research poster follows what became of the items hung on a single railing post at a suburban kerb, and the University has adopted the post's practice in place of its staffed lost-property desk.

The School of Continuous Improvement has long held that custody is something an
institution does in practice before it does it on paper. A research poster
published today, _The Fence Post as Lost-Property Office_, takes that view to a
railing post at a suburban kerb, where passers-by have for some time hung the
gloves, scarves and hats that other people left behind.

The poster presents a teaching case built on eighteen months of observation from
the bus shelter opposite. Of the 143 items logged, owners took back 31, second
passers paired 26 single gloves with a mate, and the median item had left by day 15. The case invites seminar groups to consider what is owed to the items that
stay.

> The post has been keeping things for longer than we have had a view on keeping
> them, and we are glad to have been taught by it.
>
> --- Dr Mirela Hanke, Postdoctoral Fellow and Deputy Convenor, Living Dashboard

The University has adopted the post's practice as its own. The railing post at
the main entrance becomes the office of record for lost property, the staffed
desk closes, and an unclaimed item will hang for fifteen days before it is
released to the weather. Dr Solveig Adeyemi, Lecturer, thanked "the commuters of
the corner, who carried on exactly as they always have."

The full poster is available from the University's research repository under an
open licence, doi:10.5555/slop.tairxj.