Library

Well... and the day started pretty early today(0730AM)... Earliest prob in the whole damn week or mth or mths... Except on Saturdays where soccer takes precedence over sleep... 3Hrs at the Australian High Commission... Nice place to chill... but darn irritating to get into... But i'm sure they had their procedures.... was myself doing that shit once(NS)... Well the 3hrs wait was quite productive... Me and Jes were making fun of Everyone there... There was this Big Guy who almost fought with the counter cos he was waiting.... Sheesh!! well and then the rest of tha day was as per normal... Study Study Study.... With abit of pool in bet... :P (Dun scold me la...) I so felt like watching the movie with Shana and Vin... But I didn't... Needed to focus on studies... IM BECOMING A GOOD BOY PPL!!! A DAMN GOOD BOY!!! (Hope all this pays off eventually...)

Well i guess i cant do this everyday... or it'll be me repeating myself over and over on how i feel so excited abt studying day in day out... ppl i have no life... i guess u know that by now.... well if i encounter smth interesting i'll let u know....

Talking about interesting, whats the first thing that comes to anyone's mind when it comes to a library? Well to me, a library is a place of knowledge, a place where noise is prohibited and silence is advocated. It is a place where people come to do research, study or just for quiet reflections. Even the media has shown the library as what that i have described. Most of us would be most familiar with the sound "Shhhh"- indicating the stict disciplinarian figure of the librarian shunning the slightest of sounds audible to Man. This is the picture and character of a library that i have been brought up with.

However, as i spend most of my days in the library these days, the ancient idea of a library is slowly diminishing. The library has become more of a meeting place for friends to chit chat. It has become a childcare centre for the young after school. It has become much like a community centre. Although there are those who religiously maintain library decorum, there is no longer the quiet ambience that there used to be. Why? Has it always been like that?

I am not that old neither am i that young but all the times i have spent in a library, i still wonder. I wonder in amazement how people refuse to heed the numersous signs in the library. Signs telling us to be silent; signs prohibiting the use of mobile phones etc. And people make no attempt to be discreet when they break these rules. In fact they are proud and blatent when doing so. I have encountered many situations to illustrate my above mentioned point.

The elderly lady beside me had her phone on 'melody mode'. When her phone rang, she showed no urgency that the loud ringing tone was a source of disturbance and distraction to other library users. Moreover she did not bother rejecting the call or going outside of the library to continue her conversation. She sat comfortably where she was and started speaking in a loud voice which was projected to be louder due to the close proximity of the walls. She covered her mouth and spoke but that did not make her voice go down at anysignificance. I felt that that was a feeble attemp to convince herself that she was being 'not so loud'. Even after she had finished her conversation she did not have the slightest bit of remorse on her face that she had disturbed the rest of the users with her selfish act.

The other incident that appalled me was an incident involving a whole family. This particular family of about 7 people came in and sat about 2 tables away from me. I was at that point of time trying to understand a topic that i was having difficulty and i needed the utmost of silence to help me focus on that topic. However i realised that i was not going to get any quiet once that family walked in. the Family comprised of a middle-aged man (probably the father), 3 middle-aged women, and two young girls and a the youngest was prob a 10 yrs old boy. The women of the family decided to hold a conference about how bad other peoples life's were except theirs. And not too mention the father who didnt even try to keep his voice down when he decided to join in the conversation on an adhoc basis. Not to mention the the youngest, the boy he was running up and down the library treating it as if it were a playground. All in all they were so noisy that not only did i lose focus in what i was studying i also got a headache from all the noise and comotion created by them.

These are just 2 examples of unruly behaviour in the library. there have been many more that have gone unreported. What is the library evolving into? As far as i know it is not the library that shuns noise, but that which advocates the poison that is slowly eating the personna of the library.

To a better library and more considerate Citizens,

Moral of the day: There's magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.

Niran