It’s not oh so quiet.
The Chronicle of Higher Education has a short blurb with fun comments about an obstructionist device called the Deluxe Yacker Tracker. Appropriating the design of a traffic signal, this noise-control invention flashes yellow as a warning and red (siren is optional) when volume levels exceed 15 decibels.
If we had the Yacker Tracker in my library, our staff would be in constant violation. While I hesitate to sanction the use of the descriptor stentorian, I confess that I am a loud librarian. Deal with it.
In a recent survey, I learned that 19% of patrons are “dissatisfied-to-very dissatisfied” with the noise in my library. More than a few students used the open ended question as an opportunity to gripe about loudness, of which I am a frequent contributor. Our library purposely offers itself as a social space, after all!
Here’s what students are saying:
The library is a place for studying, not for socializing, including staff. It would be nice to study for finals or midterms without hearing what a worker at the library likes to drink on the weekend. I study in the very back where it states it is “quiet study area”, and I still can hear the staff being very loud which is frustrating! Also students are very loud as well! This library is the best, just bring down the noise levels and it will be perfect!
And this:
Quiet! Quiet! Quiet!
One more:
Less noise…I would love seeing more of the workers… Maybe over dinner? This is assuming the men in the library are excluded.
Filed under: A Day in the Life, By: Librarian About Town, News, libraries | 4 Comments
Tags: assessment, shhhh!, strange library supplies
Oh, I completely understand about being a loud library! But that is one of the things we are sort of proud of in our library…..that it is NOT your typical, silent spot. Those of us that work here do talk to each other, and I know we can get a bit loud, but it isn’t all the time. And we rarely shush people. Libraries should be places to work or read or study, yes, but maybe they should also be places that aren’t thought of as strict, either.
I think we should do a bit of a poll in our library to ask about noise levels. I’m thinking our patrons wouldn’t complain, but maybe I’d be surprised??
I also found out from a recent survey that some patrons are unhappy with the noise level in our library. (I myself am guilty of adding to the cacophony, and am trying to learn to control myself…it’s a lifelong struggle). This got me thinking: on our campus, the library is really the only place available for quiet study. But in our tiny one-room library, is it possible to be both social space and quiet haven?
We offer a quite study area in the far reaches of our library, where some shady stuff goes down, along with two group study rooms, which get lots of use. Carve out a study room or two so that students can opt out of listening to what the librarian “likes to drink on the weekend.” For the record: Martinis!
We have two study rooms, but only one has a computer and it’s not hooked up to the ‘Net. Do you have computers w/ internet access in your study rooms? Maybe we should discuss over ‘tinis…