Multiple times a week you will find me in one of two places: the McCreight Mac lab in Gault Library or my Independent Study carrel. I can also guarantee you that multiple times a week I will be interrupted by the many members of the College community who lack any sort of library etiquette.
I know I may sound like your high school “library Nazi” when I say the words “library etiquette” but I thought that courtesies such as using your inside voice, keeping your headphones at a volume I can’t hear from across the room and putting your cell phone on vibrate or silent went without saying.
It surprises me every time I do work at the library how many people have no qualms about being disruptive, and often times I think these people find it humorous ó it certainly is not. Not only is it rude to the people who come to the library anticipating many hours of uninterrupted study time, but I don’t care what you did this past weekend. I also do not have any regard for the boy/girl you have a crush on whom you made eye contact with on Saturday night.† While this may be a success for you, and congrats on that, there is no need to yell this ó yes literally yell this ó across the library.
Often times it is the solitary individual, the texting fiend, who is the worst offender.† Their rapid-fire texts produce instantaneous responses from their textee. The result ó the entire table vibrates every two seconds or the phone beeps so often that they become indistinguishable, running into one another and sounding more or less like someone is leaning on a doorbell. Either of these things are incredibly distracting and are sure to break your zone of concentration.
Upon participating in these obscenities one of two things will most likely happen to you if I am present: I will passive-aggressively rant about your obnoxious tendencies in a Facebook status ó I have no shame when it comes to using names, and depending on the severity of the situation, I will verbally address you and your party in a manner similar to your own ó obnoxious and uncalled for.
I used to think that I was the only person unnerved by these actions, but upon discussing this with other library patrons I realize that this is not in fact the case. While not everyone is quite as passionate about the nuisances associated with flagrant disregard for library etiquette, people are still mildly bothered by the distractions. So, keep your voice down, keep your music at a reasonable volume ó inaudible to those around you and if you indulge in texting as a means of procrastination then at least keep the phone on silent. In doing this you can still enjoy your distractions and I can finish my I.S. in time for graduation.