SHH! You're in the library!
I totally should have written this post earlier, but whatever. Anyway, today I went to the nearby public library. I did some note-taking on mythical monsters, but before that I spent some time on the computer. A guy sitting on the opposite side of the (small) room from me kept swearing up a storm, continuously spewing BULLSHITs, FUCKs, FUCKIN' SHITs, and ASSHOLEs while I was in the computer room. Now, thankfully, no teens or kids were in the room at the time, but what if there were? I thought there was some kind of library etiquette in place. I mean, shouldn't talking softly include no cursing? I guess people's sense of how to behave at the library went out with the inclusion of computers and the ability to have use of your cell phone in (most) libraries. In another instance, there was a guy the other day in a study room doing no actual studying and instead talking extremely loudly on his phone. IN A STUDY ROOM. WHERE PEOPLE SHOULD BE DOING RESEARCH AND/OR HASHING OUT SCHOOL AND WORK PROJECTS. My God, I was outside of the room (he had the door closed) and I could hear everything he was saying. If you really do have to have an animated, in-depth phone conversation, do it in the lobby or outside the library building. It was a fairly nice day out, too, when that guy was there. My community college's library (or at least the sitting area and computer area) was horrible with the noise and distraction level. Despite not being allowed to use cell phones in that library, it didn't stop people from talking like they were at a party or huddling around the computers. Speaking of computers at the college, I swear I saw more people checking MySpace and Facebook for hours at a time rather than writing papers or doing research, what the damn things are there for in the first place! I was guilty of checking personal stuff, too, but I made a point to do research as well as surfing my girlfriend's nudie pics (or whatever). Eep! I've gone on too long and gotten diverted, but my point is that I'm definitely not a Luddite, but I mourn for the days when libraries were relatively quiet and free of distractions.