Quiet Libraries Part II and "Please Do Not Bite the Librarian's Head Off"

I wrote a post about two months ago about silence in the library and how that seems to be a forgotten thing. I explained that I was writing said post because it was, amazingly, nearly silent in the library. That silence I thought there was is nothing, absolutely nothing, compared to today. The only voices I heard until about noon are those of my coworkers and three students.

This is because today, our computers are down. They're not broken: this isn't a repeat of that whole issue a few weeks ago with the printer. No, they're simply being worked on. Signs were put up yesterday morning *all* over the first floor informing students and faculty (and interlopers) that the computers would be unavailable until 1pm. So, for the most part, students have not come in. Or they've come in, noticed the signs, and left. A few have wandered over to the computers and been told that they can't use them (they've looked rather confused when we've said that), but that's only a few people, and they're particularly quiet.

I don't think I fully understood just how noisy computers make people. Or rather...the presence of the computers down here in the front seem to make people perceive this part of the first floor as a hangout space. Personally, I don't understand why they don't go to the computer labs to work on their group projects and generally chill out in front of computers, but they like to use our computers, and as long as they're not yelling, this doesn't bother me.

NOTE: The computers are back up now (well, most of them), but it's still pretty quiet. The people who waited, came in later, or were granted access despite the signs saying no computers were available...those people appear to be the quiet ones. Apparently the impatient ones are the noisy folks.

But really, the quiet in the room when the number of computers available is remarkably small is amazing.


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Also, a note: just because you're not yelling and you say "thank you anyway" at the end of your speech does not mean you're being nice or polite. A student came in and, after being rude to the woman at circulation, came over to tell us that it was terrible that our computers were unavailable since the computer labs elsewhere are all being used, and that "it would be nice if people talked to each other" (I'm not sure if she means we should communicate more with IT or if she means we should tell the students in ways other than posting signs around the library), and that it's toward the end of the semester and students need to print and and and and. And thank you anyway, of course.

Look, student. It's not our fault the other labs are being used. They're not our responsibility. Was there a miscommunication somewhere? Possibly, but I think it's highly likely that the computer people are aware that our computers are unavailable for part of today. And by the way, please notice that I said "for part of today". The signs (and there are MANY of them) specifically say that the computers will be unavailable until 1 pm. Not for the whole day, just until 1 pm. And, in fact, if you hadn't be on a tirade and had simply told us that you really needed to print something and could we help you out, we would have. But since you went on a tirade (even-toned as it may have been) and left before we could offer, we couldn't help you. This is not "if you're not nice we won't help", this is "if you're not nice and you walk away before we can offer help, we won't help". A young man was just politely expressing concern over the fact that he couldn't use the computer and really needed to look something up, so I let him use the other computer at this desk. Another student had similar concerns, so we let him use one of the computes which the staff just finished fixing. They're fixing the computers in sets, which means some are already done. There were, as of about 15 minutes later (when I was writing this section initially), 3 or 4 students using computers that had already been fixed. Those students were sent over there because they did not start ranting and then stomped off. The stomping off is the bigger issue, frankly. I've retrieved a rude student before, because he was easy to get to, but if you run off, I can't help you.

Moral of the story: please be nice. And if you're not going to be nice, at least don't stomp off before we can prove that, in fact, we are the "bigger man" and will help you despite the fact that you're unkind.

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So much for having a very objective, polite, "professional" blog. I guess all blogs have to go this way, don't they.