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Do & Don't in a Library
What are the common-sense things you expect people to know they should do or not do when visiting a library?
Do we take it for granted that everyone knows what to do in a library?
Are expectations significantly different when visiting a library in another state or country?
How does it affect you when someone breaks the understood protocol?
Do:
- read materials
- enjoy the silence
- quietly read books to children using puppets
- whisper if you speak
- study
- take notes in your notebook
- keep your feet off the furniture
- stay quiet in study areas
- use the reference librarians to help you find difficult-to-find materials on a given topic
- turn off cell phones
Don't:
- put books back on the shelf unless you placed a marker
- eat
- drink, not even water
- let your children run wild
- speak loudly
- write in books
- forget your library card
- keep a book past its due date when someone has placed it on hold
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I was in a study area of a college library once, sipping water from my water bottle, when someone tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to stop. It wasn't a librarian. I read the rules for that particular library and water was indeed permitted in certain student study areas. I was not out of line, but it got me thinking about the protocols we learn as children in a library. How do these affect your perspective and interactions with fellow library patrons?
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"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq
"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy
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