to want libraries to be nice peaceful places

[imahappycamper]

My local library is so noisy I can never choose a book there. Last time I went in there were people talking really loudly and the library assistant was telling anyone who would listen about her bad leg. It is quieter in our local Co op, even when it is busy. Is this the way all libraries are these days?

The university library I worked in was very quiet indeed. The computers were all housed in a separate wing with closed doors and there were private areas/rooms for discussion/group work and apart from the silent study area, the rest of the library was 'minimum noise at all times'. I then moved to working in a postgrad arts research unit within a museum and it was similarly quiet.

'every little shuffle seems magnified and more irritating'

Every fart and every stomach rumble is also magnified, making them far more amusing than they would ordinarily be

Our library is pretty well organised, colourful noisy(?) kids bit at one end, computers, news + mags, books, and quiet area at the other end.
Its also open several evenings so you can go after work.

Only thing I wish for: new books! The collection is pretty old. Could do with books on e.g. setting up own business, as a 20 year old book is not likely to be very relevant!

I love my local library too. I love the fact that I can take DD there and she thinks it is the biggest treat ever and although she keeps the noise down, there is no need to be silent.

Ours also has a really good mix though. There are computers and printers but no sofas. Lots and lots of trashy novels for me though.

that too

we haven't got a library - it flooded a few years ago so they closed it down and are building a new one very, very slowly. We get a mobile library that comes once a week during the day when the kids are at school.
how crap is that?
the local comprehensive doesn't have a school library either.
Meanwhile I was sitting in the health centre waiting for an appointment the other day and there were posters up about classes you could go to for free to learn how to teach your baby to talk [world is going to hell in a handbasket emoticon]

Ours does pretty well as there's a main central bit with lots of rooms off it - the Childrens Room is full of bouncy toddlers, the Teen Room has a couple kids on Facebook/homework sites, the Reference Room is packed with chaps reading papers and books, and then there's a study area at the back which is fairly quiet.

Shame the building is falling apart and may have to close.

Now uni libraries really should be quiet except in designated group work areas (KCL, grr...)

Why do academic libraries need to be quiet? at my local one the quiet floors are pretty deserted with most people choosing to work where they can discuss stuff with their mates if they come across something they don't understand. There is a floor where students can have a "working lunch" (i.e. eat and drink while reading / doing group work) and that is very popular. There does seem to be more of us who study better with background noise than those who like to work on silent floors.

I love our libraries. The main library has 2 floors and the upstairs is for quiet research/study, downstairs has play space for children with tunnels through bookshelves and hidey spacesto read.
our local one is tiny but they have singing/story time still, sometimes people on pc's or reading paper but it never gets too noisy.
The librarians are fab, they help dd's choose books (they are 2 + 4) and chat to them. As a result the girls love the library, know how to use their cards and to look after books. I don't allow yelling and svreaming though, not because it's a library, but because it is public and enclosed.
Ithink being a university town helps, all the students are in their library, not ours!

Ooooo is there going to be a bunfight about libraries?? Fantastic

Reminds me of the comedian who was taliking about The Davinci Code and was killing himself as he never thought he'd hear the words 'I need to get to a library ? quick' in a Hollywood blockbuster film lol

Yes, libraries are noisier these days, i took my son in our local library the day before the London Marathon. DS has AS and is profoundly deaf, he isnt aware how much noise he makes! Some of the local marathon runners were in there and we were chatting away, ds a little louder than everyone else. An old man came hurtling through from the reference section and said quite loudly" Cant you lot be quieter?" My reply was "NO but we can be a lot noisier if you like!!" The librarian told me off but i was sorely riled by his attitude. He didnt even hang round to let me explain about ds!

Its not the noise that bothers me, it is the body odour in our local library.

God it reeks!

I agree with ShowofHands though. Academic libraries far too quiet. The Bodleian in Oxford is positively soporiphic in summer months albeit largely smell free.

The Patent Library in London though was the quietest ever and has the most eccentric and lovely librarians that are just incredibly helpful.

I love libraries, just go in them to say I have been in. Kind of like train spotting.

I also sneak into libraries just because they're there. Ours are pretty good - could always do with more books though - but could do with working and accessible loos - I know it's not part of the key requirements for a library, but given the number of events for toddlers they hold I think loos are essential.

I think the computers in libraries is a good idea - access to the internet is so essential nowadays, and libraries are an obvious public place to put them, and very accessible to the older generation who are less likely to have broadband at home. Also gets the footfall up and makes them more difficult to axe - can you imagine how empty they'd be if there weren't any computers in there? and how quickly they'd be sold off for Tesco Metros.

YABU - libraries are paid for by public funds and therefore need to provide services that the public want. The majority of people want to be able to use the internet for information, education and communication.

However there is a world of difference between background buzz and chatter, and people being deliberately disruptive (eg the staff member talking about her leg loudly) and in that instance I think I would have asked to speak to someone in charge, or asked for a comment form.

Ours is usually nice and quiet except for the fact that that we have a lovely lovely librarian & I usually end up having a long chat with her while taking books out

The computers are mostly being used by children doing their homework as far as I can see (to be fair I usually go in just after school time) so I think they are a real public service for the kids that don't have internet at home.

While we have some librarians on here, maybe you can answer a question for me, though? I've been puzzling over it and am curious!

We can order books on line from the county catalogue here (which is absolutely fantastic as our library is tiny).

The only odd thing is that whenever I order a children's book that is listed as being in the 'stack' in the central county library, it never appears, and when you go back to the catalogue it is then listed as 'missing' - at first I thought it must be co-incidence, but now it's happened about a dozen times. All the other childrens' books from different libraries arrive fine (and you'd think they'd be the ones that would get lost, since they're out in circulation).

Any ideas???

Our main library has 3 floors. The lending library is noisy and wonderful. There are noisy sessions in the children's area and a seating area where groups of old ladies meet for knitting, tapestry, rug making classes etc and chat away. Downstairs is the digital library which is a little quieter but also has computer classes. Then there is a research section whihc is properly quiet and has desks for working in peace. I think it is a great set up.

Takver, if I'm understanding your question right, then it's because the book is lost and probably has been for some time. Hence not being in circulation. It only becomes listed as 'missing' because someone ie you, has requested it and when the member of staff when to find it, they couldn't. Happens a lot with children's book. They're often in the wrong place or just plain missing.

We have a self service system in our local library and TBH it is not that bad.

I suppose sadly and inevitably it will have led to some staff reductions but if there are going to be funding cuts in that area then I suppose any such savings will help to keep the library itself open.

As for noise we have a pretty good set up in that the library is on two floors. The top floor has the reference books seems to have a more hushed atmosphere. It id definitely where you would go to study.

Downstairs has general fiction and also the children's section which is cheerful and friendly and has a pleasant background hum. I have no problem at all with hearing the small children enjoyinh themselves and being read to but I was a bit the other day when two boys easily old enough to know better (e.g 9 or 10) where playing a noisy game of tag in and around the shelves!

SoH - I see that entirely - just seems strange that the ones 'in circulation' so to speak always exist, but none of the ones supposedly in storage do - you'd think that they'd notice they weren't there when they went to put them in storage . . . I didn't think it odd for the first 10 or so!

I secretly think that there is a very small black hole in the basement of the county library

Or they're not looking for them. [cynical]

Or there's some kind of existential void and their entire in stack collection has ceased to exist.

Someone further up bemoaned the lack of new books at her library. Anyway I would suggest she asked the library assistant or looked on the online catalogue the books she's looking for could be out on loan.

A lot of the most popular new books come into the library(at least where I work) only to go straight out to satisfy borrower's requests. This means a really popular and eagerly awaited book, like Wolf Hall, isn't actually seen on the library shelves for months after it entered circulation, so giving the impression we don't get new books
(and this is despite titles like this having as many as 50 copies in the county)

As for library assistants getting a pay freeze I've yet to meet one who earns over the 21k threshold, so we won't be worrying about that. Self service machines are another matter.

Takver - I was wondering if someone perhaps couldnt be bothered to get them, and was just listing everything as missing!

But then I remembered seeing bags of books outside the library in my old town. They were left out in the rain in bags so probably headed for the dump It was weird as the library inside was quite empty -hardly any books.

A few years ago I felt large bookshops were kind-of replacing libraries. You could go in there and browse, but with new books, sofas and coffee.. sometimes Id even try to read the book there couldnt afford all the books tho as was a student.

I wonder if library use and importance will increase now with the recession..

schroeder - of course I did

If there are any library assistants here, do you know how new books are chosen? what sort of budget is there for new books?

Our librarian did say maybe they weren't bothering to look - but I thought she was joking!

Re. new books - at our library, if they don't have a book in the county you can request it on a form and if it seems like it will be of interest to enough people they will buy it. They bought Vince Cable's book that was very talked about a year or so back when I asked for it (then I think lots of other people asked for it too, but I got it first ).