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Old 07-06-2009, 07:55 PM   #9 (permalink)
djtestudo
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Location: Beeeeeautiful Bel Air, MD
Quote:
Originally Posted by genuinegirly View Post
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?
The library system I work for actually allows drinking and even eating within reason in certain areas.

Other than that, that's a good list of "dos and don'ts". Some of them might not be actual rules, but they are still a courtesy to the other patrons as well as the staff.

The latter is important, because library staff (especially, but not limited to, the circulation side) are just like any other retail workers. If you come to my desk with a sob story about how you couldn't return your items on time because your kid was sick and you had to spend all week in the hospital and then you accidentally left them in the car while it was in the shop and then you went on vacation and that's why you have a $75 fine and could I PLEASE waive even some of it, you better hope to hell you've treated us well if you want the same treatment.

We can't spit in your soup, but we can force you to pay what you owe and not get that new book you've had on order for months or that new DVD you've been waiting to see until you do

---------- Post added at 11:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:49 PM ----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by Psycho Dad View Post
Did you start this thread because you were worried I was serious about masturbating in the bookstore?
(DiamondbackOnline.com) Tracking the 'McKeldin Masturbator'

Quote:
Tracking the 'McKeldin Masturbator'
Library is place of learning, and recently, indecent exposures
By Jonathan Cribbs
Staff writer

To most, McKeldin Library is an attractive place for learning, free of the clamor of dormitory living and filled with an endless collection of books and periodicals.

It's also an institution that has provided the perfect setting for indecent exposure crimes, letting the culprits prey on students using the library's quiet nooks and isolated study rooms.

Seven indecent exposure incidents occurred in the last two years in the library, including one after police arrested Robert Lee Scott on May 1, a suspect they believed had been linked to most of the crimes.

Scott was wanted in connection with an incident on April 6, in which a man ejaculated onto a girl's back. When police returned to the library on April 10, they found Scott, arrested him and charged him with second degree assault and trespassing...
Good ol' College Park...
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