So, tomorrow I start the summer reading program and I will be working with a little boy who probably cannot read well, if at all. Today I went to the library to pick out some picture books and I was totally stymied. I don't know if the library professionals who read my blog have different experiences in their libraries, but my local library's children section was a MADHOUSE today. A complete cacophony of chaotic children. I didn't even see that it was storytime or anything. These children were just running around like cuckoos. I couldn't hardly take it. I was not surprised to see that the mother of some of the children was wearing an orange sports bra with NO over-shirt. Even if it were appropriate to go out in public wearing only a sports bra and no shirt, which it is MOST CERTAINLY NOT APPROPRIATE, this was one of the last women on Earth who should have been going about town dressed like that. If one's mother goes out in public clad only in underwear, is it a surprise that her children will run around the library like idiots? It wasn't only this woman's children, though. I was perturbed to see that several other children were running around, shrieking. I don't care if it is the children's section and that we are on a separate floor from the rest of the library, WE ARE IN A LIBRARY! FOR PETE'S SAKE!! Shut up and act with some decorum.
My other beef with the children's section? The complete lack of order in the bookshelves. That is to say, the picture books, which is what I was browsing, searching for materials, were a disaster. Supposedly, they are shelved alphabetically according to the author's last name, but within each letter the books were a mess. There were several that the card catalog said were on the shelf, but I could not locate. WE ARE IN A LIBRARY! FOR PETE'S SAKE!! Let's get some order to these books!
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3 comments:
Oh, yowza, don't get me started on the children's library. Parents seem to think it's OK to dump their kids in the children's area while they run off to use the adult computers. That's the biggest thing that bugs me. FYI: it is against library policy to leave your child unattended here at the WPL.
We don't expect kids to be completely hush hush (we've got education game computers, so sometimes you can hear a kid singing the ABC's too loudly because they have headphones on and cannot hear how loud s/he's singing). But if kids start getting too ridiculous, we'll tell them to pipe down.
As for books being out of order, kids often grab a book and then put them back in the wrong spot. We try to straighten the shelves periodically, but they do get messy sometimes. I would have mentioned it to the librarian that you had a really difficult time finding the books you wanted.
Well, interestingly, I visited a different library today (I frequent two libraries) and their children's section was amazingly in order. I found every book I wanted with no problems.
And no, I don't expect children to be perfectly quiet at the library. I do, however, expect them to not run around screaming.
What about the dress code at your library? Is there one? I was quite surprised that no one said anything to this woman about her attire (or lack thereof).
We do have a basic dress code, such as patrons (and staff, too!) have to wear shirts and shoes. So, I guess the woman could argue that she is covered up, but we would probably ask her to cover up some more.
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