Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
^Totally agree. Some people might have a computer or a tablet but many people do NOT have wifi. The library is often the gateway for the internet and some libraries "loan" portable wifi if you live within a certain area.
In addition, some libraries have access to certain data bases unavailable to the public or to academic journals.
Yeah, that would be extremely annoying. And pop music no less. Even if it were classical it would be inappropriate. I'd have a fit about that. Prolly go on a rampage of complaints, find out how and who made that decision, and fight it. Public library?? NO WAY.
Got it. I agree with you. The question I have is, did you talk to the administration about it?
I am not totally against music if it is at low level and music only. I think I could deal with that.
You have a great day.
elamigo
My traditional idea of a library is a place where people can read books and do research in the quiet. But my local library has decided to play music (from an Ipad I am guessing) in the background. I could understand if we were at a shopping mall, the music isn't too loud at the moment and some '80s classics (Take On Me by A-ha, Karma Chameleon by Culture Club) have been given airtime to the community. But it was irritating me before.
What do people here think? Are libraries still quiet places or is the modern library more like a video store?
Public libraries aren't exactly quiet places -- there are a lot of activities that take place in a library these days. But, as a librarian, I say just plain NO to background music piped throughout a public library. I hope this isn't some new trend, and at least it hasn't yet hit any library systems that I know of. I would find it distracting and no doubt irritating to people who don't share the same taste in music. Music belongs in library programs for both adults and children, conducted in closed-off library community rooms and other library meeting spaces. It doesn't belong where people are conducting research or just trying to read a book in peace.
Maybe the homeless who hang out there (dozing, not reading) might like it.
Do dozing people like music, generally? Think about what you just said.
I use Barnes & Noble like a library regularly (>3x per week), and I think their unceasing muzak, with the exception of the Xmas music that I'm still having to deal with even on January 2nd, is more of a positive than a negative. I'm sure someone can google 'optimal background noise' for learning environments, but I'd have to think it's somewhere slightly above total silence. I'm not entirely sure that's true, but I do know that for myself, I'm more inclined to sleep at a library (or at home), but with the buzz of a bookstore or coffee shop around me, I 'do better', focus-wise. Obviously there's a happy medium here--I couldn't study at a rock concert. But I like some 'reasonable' background stimulation.
I would complain in no uncertain terms. I cannot read while music is playing, of any type. People can use their own devices if they want to listen to music.
Even at background noise-level? Can you not read in a quiet coffee shop that's playing mellow acoustic rock or something? Interesting.
I hate the background music every place I go - restaurants, shopping centers, medical offices, etc., etc. ....the list goes on and now they want to add libriaries? I sure wouldn't want to see that happening.
I hate the background music every place I go - restaurants, shopping centers, medical offices, etc., etc. ....the list goes on and now they want to add libriaries? I sure wouldn't want to see that happening.
I don't necessarily disagree but that's moreso a complaint (in my case) against the quality of the music that tends to be enjoyed and therefore tends to get played in these places. In theory if I could hear music I liked at all the venues I frequented, I wouldn't ask for much of a reprieve--I think. Easy to say now--everyone gets tired of excessive exposure to any given thing X. Also, just wait for the proverbial day when hidden microscopic wireless speakers become ubiquitous nuisances in the 'Great Outdoors' where I do tend to seek quiet solitude...I might violently disrupt a Silicon Valley disruptor on that particular day of ribbon-cutting beta rollout. Rhetorically of course.
I hate the background music every place I go - restaurants, shopping centers, medical offices, etc., etc. ....the list goes on and now they want to add libriaries? I sure wouldn't want to see that happening.
Same. The music everywhere is incredibly annoying. The music I recently heard at Walmart was like some weird funk rap or something way too loud. Is the music at Walmart different at each store? I don't know. The only music at a store I like sometimes is at Earth Fare.
And now a library has music? OP needs to call Inside Edition and make this national news. Maybe international news.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
