Taking the “Community” out of Community Library
My wife and I are frequent customers of our local library, the Garden Home Community Library, part of Washington County Cooperative Library Services. The Garden Home library is tucked away inside a cozy little corner of the Garden Home Recreation Center, and is the very model of what you would like a neighborhood library to be. We are in the library so often that the librarians know us by name, and vice versa.
We were in the library again this morning to pick up some held items. As usual, the kids had split off to go to their own section of the library, and I had checked to see if any new graphic novels had come in. When it was time to check out, we all gravitated back to the front counter, and my wife started stacking up our books. Behind us, in the doorway of the library, the head librarian was chatting with a friend who had stopped by.
“Excuse me!” an angry voice rang out. “Excuse me!” A woman at one of the computer stations was trying to get the attention of the head librarian.
“I’m talking to someone right now, but I’ll be with you in just a minute.” the head librarian said.
“Yes, I know. It’s your conversation that’s bothering me! I can’t concentrate on what I’m trying to do here. I thought libraries were supposed to be quiet!”
Everyone stopped talking and turned to stare at her. The library is a small space, and the four computers are right next to the front desk, and therefore next to the front door. If there is going to be a conversation anywhere in the library, it’s going to be at the front desk, and while the conversation at the door had certainly been audible, it hadn’t been loud or rambunctious.
The librarian seemed to be at a loss for words, and while she was struggling to find an appropriate reply her friend volunteered to step out in the hall. The librarian followed her. The rest of us returned to what we were doing, but we kept casting glances at this self-important, self-imposed guardian of the sanctity of our library.
I don’t know about the other patrons, but it really irked me. Garden Home is our community library, in the truest sense of the word. We see our friends and neighbors there. It’s a place to spend time while our children are in a class at the rec center. When, as happened recently, a staffmember passes away it’s more than a name in a newsletter, it’s the loss of a friend. This woman was placing all of the importance on the word ‘Library’, and none on the word ‘Community’.
Plus, as she sat there working on the computer, she was sucking on a Slurpee from 7-Eleven. I can only suppose that she considered the rule about being quiet to be more important than the rule about ‘no food or drink’.
And that makes her not just a self-righteous pedant, but a hypocrite as well.
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Sorry, I’m with the person requesting quiet. It’s a *library*, not a community center. The slurpee’s gotta go, tho.
I normally only post once and don’t come back to read the thread again, but I did want to post one more time because I didn’t notice the part about the library being inside the recreation center. That’s poor design, and there’s invariably going to be a conflict between people who want peace and quiet to study, and those who are… well… *recreating* in the recreation center. I for one get sick and tired of people running around my local library like it’s some kind of rec center because it’s not what a library’s supposed to be. If you can’t be quiet, take your conversation *outside* the library.
If it is indeed a community center, your community center, then you should indeed voice your opinion to the irked patron rather than glaring or staring and walking away.
And Oswego, Libraries aren’t in the 50’s anymore. Sure there is some respect to being quiet in a library but having something audible but not loud is hardly something to fuss about. Ever been to a multnomah county library? At some point due to the sheer amount of people you can’t just keep completely quiet anymore. I mean wouldn’t the lady typing on the keyboard be irked at herself for the keys being so loud when she hit them?
Cmon. Honestly. Let’s live in the real world here.
Steve, you’re right, I should have said something. But the French have a phrase for this situation: “l’esprit d’escalier”. It literally translates as “the spirit of the staircase”, and it refers to that moment when you’re on the way out and you think “you know, what I SHOULD have said was…”.
Must have been a liberal, they do think that they are all that and a bag of chips. It’s a common siting in the PDX metro area.
Sorry. I gotta go with the irate patron. If the head librarian was on a cell phone she would have been in the worng. A non-business conversation - same thing. OTOH, if it’s a convesation where a library staffer is assisting someone. no problemo. Part of the game. Mr. Garden Home sounds a bit territorial. Peace out.
Yeah I know the phrase and practice it everyday. It’s as if you are stunned so much by what you see shock takes over and you just want out of the situation. :)
Bobb, I still side on the side of the librarian. She runs the place and the buck stops there. Someone who has a slurpee in one hand while typing on a keyboard would never be allowed near any of my equipment. Furthermore, you and I both know that a computer can be had now for less than 200 bucks with a monitor and the whole enchilada. She should go invest in one and a dial-up service like Poetworld.net ($7.95, can’t beat that one) and quit gumming up a public place for reading, not breathing heavily over the porn she can’t get at home.
She’s a hypocritical wench. And so what if the person was a friend or not? It could have been a library-related conversation anyway. Not to mention I have a hard time believing the head librarian wouldn’t keep the conversation at a reasonable level.