I walked in to get a library card, there was no one at the front desks, so I walked around to the kids section where there was a librarian (?) at a desk. She asked if she could help, I said I'd like to get a library card, and she said someone at the front desk will help me. I told her there was no one there, and she said to just stand in the front and wait.
Finally someone comes out from the back, she's extremely nice, though she spoke to me as if I was 7 years old - loudly and slowly. I filled out the paperwork, got my card, started to roam around.
A man is trying to return his books, apparently he has to pay late fees, accidentally puts coins where he shouldn't have, and the lady who had given me my card starts to reprimand him, saying loudly, "Well you shouldn't have done that! Don't you know not to put coins there?!" He's extremely apologetic but she keeps reprimanding him until another librarian comes out from the back, gets a key to open up the machine and fixes things.
The entire time I'm in this library (30 minutes tops), I heard ringing cell phones, conversations on cell phones, a chess game betw 2 patrons and their conversation, librarians instructing patrons--all in normal conversational tones...
What happened to the hushed tones and quietness of the traditional libraries??? read more