I'm in the main branch of the Idaho Falls public library. The place is loaded with yelling, crying, loud-talking kids. What the hell ever happened to the idea libraries are quiet? Instead, it seems like this one has become a place mom's bring their kids to play. Whee, daycare at the library. I wonder what percentage of them are LDS.

Same thing happened the other day. Kids (large group) noisy! Chaperones, librarians and patrons said nothing. Even the kids seemed not to know better and to forget to remind each other about the expected quietness of the place. Like many-most Mormons' kids, there wasn't adequate guidance or responsibility.

I'll tell ya what happened: Borders. And Barnes & Noble. Remember when bookstores used to be as quiet as libraries?

B&N and Borders wanted to be like a multipmedia supermarket. So they sold e-readers and music and movies on various and sundry different media. And you could check all that out inside the bookstore while you sipped on your in-store Starbucks coffee, maybe munching on a muffin, dripping crumbs into the spine of a book that you haven't paid for yet and probably won't. You'll probably just put it back when you finish your muffin and then go look at the fashion magazines while you listen to that new JayZ album.

Since when can you eat or drink inside a library? When people began treating the bookstores like libraries with snack bars, is about the same time people stopped knowing how to act inside a library. I bet not one single kid has experienced a room full of books and other media (with computers!) as a quiet place, ever in their lives. The school libraries are probably outta hand too.

And I blame it all on Barnes and Noble. And Borders.

It's Marketing. Marketing is what is going to take down civilization. Marketing makes poor manners and bad behavior cool and commonplace.

Fortunately we have a well run, wonderful Barnes and Noble with the attached Starbucks.
I've never seen anyone drinking their Starbucks in the store, but there are outdoor tables with umbrellas to sit at if Starbucks is full.

But then again, in the state of Jefferson, there are beautiful stores and art galleries full of very attractive things little hands might want to explore, but the parents generally make the children behave and look with their eyes or ask permission to touch.

What a concept! Mormons think the world wants to be like them and that they are the best parents in the land. That is a lie.

It also depends on the goals of the library.

Local libraries are not the same as university libraries, for instance.

Stacks are stacks and I was never in a library (I've worked in several) that was a playground back up in the stacks. There are media areas where there's a lot of conversation and such because there's computer terminals everywhere. But I don't think the type of library has anything to do with anything.

I once came through the door to the stacks of my university library, walked up a few rows of shelves, and there beheld the following:

A young lady was on her tippy-toes on a small stool, stretching to examine something high in the shelving. Immediately behind her, on all fours, was a young man, head up her skirt from the rear - up so far that it appeared she might sit on that head if she chose to.

I took in this scene out of the corner of my eye as I marched down the row of shelves. Did I witness a most bizarre molestation in progress (nobody screamed), or a weird consensual sex tableau?



Life is a mystery ...

Many libraries these days are moving away from the notion that it has to be "quiet" for people to learn. In fact, forward thinking libraries are creating spaces throughout the library - not just in some corner - but spaces where people can talk and collaborate and eat lunch. As a former student and current university professor, I bring my students to the libraries to work and collaborate - and collaboration is noisy.

There is one area dedicated to quiet, and there are also study rooms, but the rest of the building is fair game.

I'm not sure what a local library would have to gain by being strict on children not talking other than obsolescence. We complain that libraries are no longer quiet? Maybe they never should have been in the first place.

And I, for one, was grateful to see vending machines in my local library. One hates to leave for sustenance, yaknow?

There's a starbucks and a cafe in our library, and it's nice to be able to grab a latte and head toward the atrium and catch up on some reading. :)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2014 04:02PM by rqt.

Oh, I'm actually jealous of the library with the Starbucks in it!

I must say I loved dogzilla's anti-B&N rant (above) 'cause, ya know, it's a good one! But, my family has said they would like to live in the B&N! Some of my kids' favorite memories are from hanging in the library together, too. Our library even has a cozy fireplace to snuggle up to, and a teapot, but the kids always said it needed a Starbucks like the B&N, so they wouldn't have to leave for food! Then, they would choose the library to secretly live in. They still love to sneak away from the world sometimes and hide out in the library or B&N.

But you know what? Both our library and B&N are well-run and quiet. Both have separate areas for complete silence, and separate areas just for kids, with both quiet spots and places to read aloud with your kids. The library has a Teens Only Room, too. And small meeting rooms for project work and book clubs and other group meetings. Oh, man, now I want to go to the library. :) I would hate it if noisy kids messed up the library vibe!

(And, yeah, true - no big Mormon families in these parts, if anyone wonders.)

My library is the same... the general area of the library is quiet. The children's section is on its own floor, allowing for more volume - and different decor.

We also have meeting rooms that are separate and study rooms, some which require reservations, others are first-come-first-serve.

Food and drink are allowed just about anywhere. Because it's designed for louder and quieter spaces in various spots, it works out great for everyone.

It's a great place to get together to socialize. My embroidery group meets in one of the study rooms. During stretch breaks, we go wander the stacks for new books to read. :)

I honestly stopped taking my kids to the library because for whatever reason they would go crazy the minute I would walk in the doors. I couldn't handle the stress of trying to keep them quiet. Sad, but true.

The very best time to go to the library is family dinner time. All the moms take their kids and go home to cook dinner for daddy.

Dinner time is also the best time to shop. When I managed a retail shop in a mall, I always caught up on maintenance tasks between 4:30 P.M. and 6:30 P.M.. At that time of day the mall was nearly empty.

It is also a good idea to check the library schedule and stay away at story time, or at times planned for other child centered activities, if you don't like children's noise.

I'm with you Hervey Willits.

And this, my friends, is why civilization is quickly disappearing before our very glances. Seriously.

The best brings out the worst in people and the worst will never know the best.

It takes a village to raise a child and most don't know how to do it alone, or aren't willing to exert the necessary and timely patience and practice, or are afraid of outside influence or interaction.

Children do as other children do. There is little space, curiosity and "need" for amazement in children's/ adult's lives these days (tech), but for the ones who's environments introduce quiet/ alternative spaces (nature, farms, museums, libraries, castles, barns, gardens, ex-Mormon excursions, etc.), amazement, peace & wisdom are always there.

M@t

I noticed the same thing with ours ... it was amazing. I remember being taught that the library was where you whispered, not where you ran and shrieked.

We had to call the police on two patrons yesterday. And you never know who might suddenly flip out on you and pull a weapon because you told them to stop watching porn on the public computers, or dare to interrupt their loud and intimate conversations on their cell phones. My library was designed before the First World War, and included individual studies for serious scholars to work uninterrupted. They would now be nookie parlors, shooting galleries, or urinals. We've learned to our cost that there can be no quiet, unoverlooked nooks. Kids are rarely the problem, it's the adults who no longer know how to behave in public, especially when they come for large group events. The days when an unspoken code of public decorum was enforced by the expectations of society as a whole, and enforced with authority are gone. Say the (arbitrarily) wrong thing in the wrong tone, and you can have at best a scene, and at worse a lawsuit. As a liberal gay man, I don't want to return to a "PLEASANTVILLE" era when all social ills were swept under the carpet, to be firmly denied or quarantined. But I do sometimes look at vintage photos of downtown cities in the internet, where people dressed up to go to town with hats and gloves--then look down the computer hallway at the line of 3/4 exposed butts with thongs and tramp stamps and shudder at the contrast.