There were bustling lunchtime crowds on the piazza at the British Library in St Pancras today, enjoying the magnificent red brick-textured public space. But we weren't too enamoured by the unsightly bathtub and garden shed making incongruous neighbours to the inspirational Eduardo Paolozzi statue of Isaac Newton.

They're there to advertise the new Business and IP Centre reading room, set up to inspire start-ups to use the BL to research ideas ("great ideas happen in the bathtub" and "great inventions come together in the garden shed" – get the thinking behind this?).

As marketing ideas go, this is fairly school-level stuff, and smacks of ever so teensy budgets. Let's hope there's much greater inspiration for publicising the next major exhibition on 100 Years of the British Newspaper.

The Pearson Gallery, where this will be held from 25 May to 8 October, is currently empty, apart from a solitary lonely scaffolding tower. Still, it's a whole month before it's transformed into a stunning Front Page extravaganza, with interactive virtual areas where you can "experience the excitement and pace of a newsroom".

We can't wait – it'll make a nice relaxing change from the 24-hour madness and buzz that is the IWR blog-room!