Saturday, July 11, 2009

SHHHHH

I worked my usual Friday afternoon shift at the library yesterday. A little girl I had never seen before came in, maybe eight or nine years old, and spent the whole 20 minutes she was there talktalktalking: to me, to the other patrons, to herself if no one else was listening. It was clear she had not grasped the concept of an "indoor voice."

Eventually, she came barreling into the room where I was shelving books. I could hear her before I could see her. When she saw me, she made a beeline for me and announced, "It's too quiet in here." To which I replied, "It's a library. It's supposed to be quiet."

Does no one else remember the lectures about keeping your voice down in the library? Is that one of those things that will mark me as old, because only old people worry about being quiet in the library?
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12 comments:

  1. sheilaJuly 11, 2009 at 5:53 AM

    A kid in need of parenting. A parent that says, "Remember we are going into the library, you need to be quiet here." Sounds like it was the first time the girl was ever taken to a library.

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  2. Chiot's RunJuly 11, 2009 at 6:16 AM

    Oh yes, our librarians would give you the "stink eye" if you talked too much or too loudly.

    I was always getting the stink-eye.

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  3. SherryJuly 11, 2009 at 6:46 AM

    Well, at least she was in a library and not sitting in front of the television watching a mindless program. Sounds like her parents are a little short on parenting skills.

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  4. Sweet BirdJuly 11, 2009 at 8:08 AM

    I would have added that she should shut the heck up too. Although, I must admit I wasn't a big fan of kids even when I was one.

    My favorite game was the quiet game - the one to see who can stay quietest the longest - just so everyone would shut up for a while. None of the other kids liked it when I got to choose the game...

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  5. Aunt KrissyJuly 11, 2009 at 8:14 AM

    I also work in a library. Just the other day I told a kid to " shhh, use your library voice" What gets me is when parents let their little 4 year old come to the desk with their little lispy mumbley voice and ask if we have blah something and I have to ask and ask and ask and then guess that maybe they need the bathroom?
    Other then that, I love working at the library.

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  6. SaintTigerlilyJuly 11, 2009 at 8:37 AM

    Oh I hope that never goes out of style. Now I have to watch The Music Man.

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  7. Heather @ It's A Lovely Life!July 11, 2009 at 9:18 AM

    Your Not Old... it's just one of those "rules" everyone needs to follow. I once forgot to put my phone in vibrate and it wasn't the adults that gave me dirty looks... it was the kids... and I was so proud of them!

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  8. milJuly 11, 2009 at 10:49 AM

    Being loud is a U.S. problem. One of the great things about traveling in the UK is that people are usually quiet. They speak softly on trains and buses, apparently realizing that people ten seats away do not need to hear their conversation.
    Library voices are wonderful--we should all use them whenever we could disturb others. Yeah, Kristin!

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  9. AnonymousJuly 11, 2009 at 12:26 PM

    I agree - when I'm in the library, I feel like collaring the little ones to remond them to please be quiet...and I was also wondering if that it just an antiquidated courtesy to be quiet in the library. I would hope not...
    Moi (who cannot remember her password right now...)

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  10. SusanJuly 11, 2009 at 8:58 PM

    Unrelated - I was just at a party with 3 different kinds of potato salad. Thought of you.

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  11. BeckyJuly 11, 2009 at 8:59 PM

    This librarian of 35 years is so sad to see one of the last bastions of quiet slowly(?) falling to the barbarians. It's not that everyone has to think of libraries as sacred (even though they are), but there are just so few islands of tranquility left. School libraries need to be hives of activity, not much of it quiet--but a public library is a horse of a different color.

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  12. mdvelazquezJuly 13, 2009 at 4:39 AM

    That doesn't make you old. Being quiet is at the top of the library rules list.

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