Earlier this week I witnessed a library customer “loudly” (for old school library standards) complaining that there was inadequate “quiet space” on the floor he was on and that it was inappropriate for people to be so audible in a library (the floor he was on had a lot of people on computers, and working jointly in groups). The reference staff kindly told him that there was part of one floor (not the floor he was on) that was designated as quiet space and attempted to help him. That’s all I heard.

The gentleman who was complaining was older, maybe a couple of generations removed from me. I think that this just goes to show the changing face of the library. Libraries are no longer places filled with books and periodicals that you get and quietly read to yourself. They are (like my college library) places of community, interaction, and multimedia (i.e. not just printer materials).

Sure there is place for quiet study, and I don’t think that will go away, but more and more libraries (especially college libraries) appear to be evolving into places of congregation and knowledge sharing. The pursuit of knowledge is no longer thought of as a solitary activity. Some people might prefer it, but I don’t think that they should enforce their views on all, just like people who prefer to congregate in a “communal library” should not force their views on the people who want to engage in knowledge acquisition in a solitary manner.

So…in this transition period, existing meets emerging