Sunday, January 13, 2013

Library "Etiquette"

A few months ago, I was in my local library and a lady (and I think her son) came in.  They were having a very loud and intense discussion the entire time that they were in the library.  I was kind of curious as to whether the librarian was going to tell them to keep their voices down.  No employees of the library said anything to them and this lady and her son kept talking loudly until they left. I was raised to keep your voices low and/or whisper in the library.  I have worked really hard with Dominic to get him to understand that in different places (like a library)  you use a different tone or level of your voice.  I have a "buddy" that works at the library and when we bump into each other, I always make sure that she and I conduct our conversations quietly.  I looked at my library's website and found a "code of conduct" or as I like to call it, library "etiquette" rules.  There are actually 20 rules listed. Rule number ten said you can't sleep for more than 15 minutes at a time.  Rule number eleven had to do with personal hygiene (you can't bathe, shave or wash and dry clothes in the restroom).  Rule number four had to do with disturbing others.  It said in particular you can't sing or talk loudly. I would definitely qualify the lady and her son as disturbing others.  What I found interesting was that most people in the library that day were just ignoring how loud and rude they were.  My own personal opinion is that when you act that way, you are not being respectful to others. How about you? Does it bug you when people are loud and don't follow library "etiquette" rules??

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