Sounding Off About Sound

I have spent over twenty years using libraries–as a traditional student, as an independent-study student, and as an individual who constantly pursues knowledge for life-long enrichment. During this period of years, I have witnessed libraries mutate from generally quiet environments to generally noisy environments. Modern-day librarians seem to accept noise as the new standard. I claim that noise is the new threat.

The Reality

I am shocked to observe what appears to be a massive shift in professional attitudes-away from viewing library users as students, to viewing library users as pampered consumers. Much of the noise in today’s libraries, in fact, occurs because of consumer-driven technology such as mobile telephones. Virtually everyone in the developed world possesses the freedom and the finances to buy a mobile telephone. Virtually everyone in the developed world, therefore, seems to think that they have the freedom to use a mobile phone anywhere and anytime they please.

Many mobile phone users have cultivated an exaggerated sense of self entitlement. Furthermore, they have used this exaggerated sense of self entitlement to pressure library leaders into compromising libraries’ traditionally quiet atmospheres. Now that talking on cell phones has gained a hold, talking, in general, has gained a new permissive atmosphere, because subtle boundaries between appropriate talking and inappropriate talking have become confused. Consequently, defining and enforcing standards for talking have become impossible. Any suggestion of not talking can encounter accusations of violating civil rights, which I view as ludicrous.

Library leaders want their institutions and their jobs to survive, so they relax what consumers perceive as rigid standards, in order to keep bodies and dollars coming in. The threat of losing patrons who support professional salaries is apparently too great to ignore.

Consumers want stimulation, satisfaction and entertainment, all within their comfort zones. Librarians, thus, have redefined libraries primarily to meet these lowest-common-denominator needs. The pressure of consumerism, thus, seems to be winning out over the ideal of quiet study.

Teachers No More

Worst of all, the concept of “teacher” seems to be crumbling, also under the pressure of consumerism. There seem to be few true teachers today and very few dedicated students, especially in the age range of adults. Instead, there are primarily consumers of products or services on one hand and primarily salespeople of products and services on the other. In this manic consumer atmosphere, the prime directive is, “The customer is always right” or ”Trust the user.”

If the customer is always right, then there is little meaning to teaching the customer (student) anything better than he or she already knows. Teaching, after all, requires conveying something unfamiliar to a student, who has to endure a growth phase of awkwardness and slight conceptual discomfort. In other words, learning requires discipline, and “discipline” has become a bad word.

Superficial Appearances Belie Deep Flaws

On the surface, a library can look good. It can appear to offer inviting spaces and enriching atmospheres. A library’s mission statement can use all the right words too. On closer examination, though, these spaces and atmospheres can work insidiously against quiet users. If leaders qualify noise as a permissible aspect of acquiring information, then noise makers will operate with little regard for quiet users. Again, I have seen this happen first hand. Even as I write this article, there is a chorus of noises around me-loud talking adults in an adjacent hallway, crying children, even staff people whose duties require talking. » Read more: Library Noise Now The Golden Standard – New Values Corrupt Silence