[Publib] Re: Libraries and silence

[Andy Barnett]

Since most libraries have trouble enforcing any kind of real silence, the 
best practice seems to be arranging different spaces for different uses. We 
have a children's room, where the noise of young children is expected, an 
AV/coffeehouse/Internet area that serves as a hangout for loud 
tweens/teens/old guys with bad hearing aids and a more library-like book 
studded area, where one can study / think / find recent books. This 
afternoon, we have 40+ teens/tweens in our "rec room" behaving their age, 
but the upstairs adult room is quite quiet.

While the US is too large to consider that everyone does things one way, I 
haven't been in many libraries that reminded me of churches.


Andy Barnett, Asst. Director				www.mcmillanlibrary.org
McMillan Memorial Library
490 East Grand Ave.						715-422-5144 (phone)
Wisconsin Rapids, WI  54494				715-423-2665 (fax)
	
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
      -  Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929 - 1968