Hi there! Unfortunately this is a bug, Gabriel is unable to both try to move the table top and read the writing, so he has no idea what to do with the bars. He just walks over there and nothing happens. It's the same kind of bug I encountered on day 5 in Mosely's office when trying to hand him prof. Hartridge's notes.
However, after restarting the day I was able to get past this issue, so it's been sorted out more or less.