I remember the days when you would go to the library and it would be silent. Some would even have great big notices hanging from the ceilings saying SILENCE.
No-one spoke, or if they did it was to the librarian and in hushed, if not embarrassed, tones.
I was a school librarian, and the corridor outside as well as the library itself were deemed to be entered in silence.
I spent a lot of my time in the library, mainly because I had few friends at grammar school, and preferred to be arranging the books in an interesting display on my section which was actually the one you always saw through the glass partition.
It was quiet and peaceful, I could work at my own pace without interference, ridicule or scorn.
In libraries, there is now the constant hum of PC monitors and whirr of printers. People speak on their mobiles, all be it quietly, but it’s no the silent place I remember from all those years ago.
Written for Fandango’s One Word Challenge
Library environment is always a bit intimidating and silence is so strictly enforced that people usually feel embarrassed even when asking a legitimate question!
That wonderful – respectful – experience lost.The whole idea of a building holding information and knowledge – and it was all there for you to explore – now that – the excitement and thrill – was something kids all need to feel early in life. Such a privilege to struggle up those steps, push the door open – and the world was there waiting for you.
The tech invasion is society marching along, but I prefer it when the computers – and coffee bars are distanced from the shelves of print. I know they are trying to make libraries relevant, but to discard something that is impressive – that’s tossing the baby out with the bathwater. Both needed – and can coexist. ( For years I visited libraries across the country for publishers – retest job ever – to sit and talk books. But I remember the fears of library systems who were worried they would become unnecessary.)