What happened to the library? Vent!

[dakcp2001]

I am at my wits end. I need to find a QUIET place to study. I have tried 3 local libraries this week, all with the same issue. A lot of noise and a lot of chaos. All I can say is that I am certain librarians are probably not getting paid enough. I have a whole new respect for them. I tried to find a quiet corner alone. I have earplugs. This did not help.

I thought the library was supposed to be quiet?

Here is my opinion:
If your cell phone dare ring in the library, you better shut it off or go outside. DO NOT ANSWER IT & YAP AWAY!And after it rings once, it better not ring a second time, it should be on silent. Shut the darn thing off or put it on silent. ANd even on silent, if your texting and the stupid thing is going to buzz loudly every 15 seconds for an hour, go outside. Don't leave it on hte wooden table to shake the whole room when it buzzes.

When did it become ok to drop your kids off unsupervised? I must have heard the librarian ask a million times "Where are you parents, when are they coming back" in addition to the "stop jumpin on the couch" "please stop" and all the other things. Is a librarian supposed to double as daycare? I was amazed at how much chasing after the children and cleaning up after them they had to do.

Sorry I know I am in a bad mood. I just feel like I need to go lock myself in the car to study. Too many distractions at home and the library is a lost cause. The local coffee shop is ok in the afternoon, but when it is busy it is just too loud. I just want a nice quiet place to study!

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

Does your library have signs up? Ours specifies to turn off phones and kids can't be left unattended. It's a very small regional library, though, so it's a bit different from a larger, city library.

Good luck -- that's frustrating!

 

[autumnpalm]

Are you near any university libraries? In the libraries at my school, there are quiet study rooms where there is absolutely no whispering, no cell phones- it's a completely silent zone. Maybe you could find one of those? I know how discouraging it is to try and find a quiet study spot- good luck!

 

[dakcp2001]

Are you near any university libraries? In the libraries at my school, there are quiet study rooms where there is absolutely no whispering, no cell phones- it's a completely silent zone. Maybe you could find one of those? I know how discouraging it is to try and find a quiet study spot- good luck!

I need one of these!!!!!!!!

 

[Boston Tea Party]

What a timely post!

I am working on my master's and tried the public library while my daughter was working as a volunteer. You talk about chaos!

I am currently in a university library and WHAT A DIFFERENCE. Is there a college nearby where you can study?

 

[Stumpy]

I completely agree with you. I think that people have just lost their minds and any sort of courtesy, particularly in libraries. I guess parents today just don't teach their kids anything. We went the week before last to our local library and first we had two tweens yelling about their boyfriends and texts they were sending. Next came a father with his young daughter who was making very loud noises. Dad didn't say anything. Finally, a college student proceeds to answer his cell phone, walk around the library and carry on a conversation. I made eye contact with him and put my hands up to suggest "what is the deal here?" He finally figured it out as he scampered behind some bookshelves and lowered his voice, but still

I was always taught that the library was a quiet place, and the signs all over the tables should've been a dead giveaway.

 

[LisaR]

I thought the library was supposed to be quiet?

HUGE pet peeve of mine. Somewhere along the way, parents decided that the did not need to teach this bit of etiquette to their children. I find public libraries to resemble Romper Room.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

I am at my wits end. I need to find a QUIET place to study. I have tried 3 local libraries this week, all with the same issue. A lot of noise and a lot of chaos. All I can say is that I am certain librarians are probably not getting paid enough. I have a whole new respect for them. I tried to find a quiet corner alone. I have earplugs. This did not help.

I thought the library was supposed to be quiet?

Here is my opinion:
If your cell phone dare ring in the library, you better shut it off or go outside. DO NOT ANSWER IT & YAP AWAY!And after it rings once, it better not ring a second time, it should be on silent. Shut the darn thing off or put it on silent. ANd even on silent, if your texting and the stupid thing is going to buzz loudly every 15 seconds for an hour, go outside. Don't leave it on hte wooden table to shake the whole room when it buzzes.

When did it become ok to drop your kids off unsupervised? I must have heard the librarian ask a million times "Where are you parents, when are they coming back" in addition to the "stop jumpin on the couch" "please stop" and all the other things. Is a librarian supposed to double as daycare? I was amazed at how much chasing after the children and cleaning up after them they had to do.

Sorry I know I am in a bad mood. I just feel like I need to go lock myself in the car to study. Too many distractions at home and the library is a lost cause. The local coffee shop is ok in the afternoon, but when it is busy it is just too loud. I just want a nice quiet place to study!

Holy crap! You just described my local library. I went there to study a couple of years ago for a work exam and got so angry. The minute school let out the place became an utter zoo!!! What happened to whispering? What happened to the nasty librarians uttering "SHHHHH!" ? I love the library but hate the noise!

 

[LiberalPrincess]

Does your library have any meeting rooms? If you ask the librarians, they will often let people have quiet study in there if there are no meetings scheduled.

 

[FireDancer]

When I was in college I would use the law library to study instead of the regular library because they were very strict about their noise levels and kept it really quiet. I didn't need the content of the regular library though, just my text books and notes, so that wasn't an issue. If you are on or near a campus with a law school try that.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I used to LOVE the library as a kid. The absolute quiet and all of those wonderful books to read! I went to our local library not too long ago and it was chaos! They even have a coffee section now where you can get specialty made coffee drinks (which is where all of the teens are yapping away on their phones or each other) but it's still in the middle of where people are trying to study/read . Ours does have a "quiet room" with separate partitions and I'll go in there sometimes but I think it's pretty ridiculous they even have to have "quiet" rooms, the whole library should be a quiet room!

 

[DizBelle]

Have the librarian call the police and say there are abandoned children that need to be picked up by CPS.

 

[dakcp2001]

Have the librarian call the police and say there are abandoned children that need to be picked up by CPS.

I really wish they would. It is not safe to dump your kids off there.

 

[SplashMtnCrew]

Just had the same thing happen at our library this morning. Luckily, we do have the personal study rooms too. They don't eliminate all the noise, but shutting the door helps block it out, plus the table is located under a window that opens to a beautiful area with wildlife, etc. it's nice.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

Have the librarian call the police and say there are abandoned children that need to be picked up by CPS.

LOL, I was going to say the same thing. Plus, cell phones and texting is out of control. Honestly, 99.9% of what people are yapping and texting about can wait till later.

 

[MM27]

The library in the city I work in is a madhouse after school hours. I've had many students over the years that go after school and stay until their parents get out of work. I guess the parents figure it's safer for their kids to be there than home alone or walking around the streets.

My college had quiet rooms as well. I used them all the time to study. Sometimes I would even go in there for a nap in between classes when I was commuting.

 

[NHdisneylover]

The cell phones drove me nuts when I was a librarian. The worst offenders were adults--not teens. Often they would be on the computers (we provided free internet access in one hour increments) and not want to leave to take their call adn therefore lose their place on the cpmuter--the thought of just not taking the call apparently was heresy Yes, we had signs on the entry doors and on every computer--still had to politely but firmly tell people to leave over and over.

Teens? Got out of hand occasionally but generally quieted right down if you reminded them to. We were mostly happy to be able to provide them with a safe hangout.

Unaccompanied kids? We had tons. We were a school bus stop and 20 or so kids got off at the library every day to wait until parents got off from work to pick them up Honestly I did not mind this at all for well behaved kids with parents who expected them to take care of themselves. We had some that did not behave that well though and several parents who seemed to think it was okay to call every afternoon and ask us if their child made it and give us messages to give to their children. One family often miscommunicated about who was picking up their 6 year old (mom, dad, grandma, aunt, etc) and would call about once a week demanding that we look all over to see if she was still there or had been picked up and if we could not find her demand to know who took her (we did not have any sign in or anything--we were not a daycare and it was not our job). We would be nice once or twice because anyone could have a true rare need, but when calls became regular we firmly let parents know that we were not daycare providers and could not take time from our jobs as librarians to track down their kids.
We did have an unaccompanied minor policy. Essentially it was that if they misbehaved and did not stop when asked we would call home and if no one answered call the police if the child was under 13. Teens we would just kick out. Adults too

 

[zachnsamsmommy]

I have a very loud 9 yr old DS, and even he knows to be quiet in a library...sheesh! The only time I let my kids talk in the library is during the kid's story time, and they are in a room to themselves (away from the rest of the library).

I think so many parents just blow off teaching their kids manners anymore...they expect them to be taught at school. Then they grow up to be teens without manners.

OP...I agree w/ all the PP about finding a college or university library, or a large central public library with several floors or a quiet room.

GL!

 

[MIGrandma]

Our local library is small, and when they added the computers for people to come in and use the internet for free the whole atmosphere of the library changed and it sure isn't the nice, quiet place it used to be.

There is another library in a nearby town that is larger, and it used to be very quiet. They recently enlarged the building and I haven't been in there since they did that, but now I'm curious to see how noisy it is now or if it stayed quiet.

I think libraries should be quiet. Cell phones should either be turned off or set to vibrate in a pocket and not taken out until the person has gone outside the library. And people should talk in whispers, not out loud.

And I wish the computers could be in a separate room so that noise wouldn't be bothersome, but I know the librarians have to monitor those so it wouldn't work to be in a separate room I'm sure.

 

[Rora]

I feel you!! The library sure has changed for the worse.

I know this might seem silly and certainly won't cut all the noise, but bring ear plugs! Seriously.

I thankful to have a university library nearby. Hope you find a solution, OP!