With the High School boys and girls, it is more difficult. The
suspension of two boys had a beneficial effect, but the principal
of the High School is our greatest help with them.
Miss Bertha Marx, Sheboypan, Wis.
The matter of discipline has not been of sufficient importance in
our library to be classed as a problem. This may be due to two
facts: First, the atmosphere discourages rowdyism, loud talking
and visiting; secondly, an unwritten rule is that there must be
quiet in the library but not necessarily absolute silence. It
seems to me where the order in a library is not what it would be,
the staff is lacking in its sense of discipline.
If by chance, a group of people happens to make too much noise,
we never hesitate to step up to them and in a courteous manner
request them to be quiet. Such disturbance is usually caused
through thoughtlessness, not from any desire to break a library
rule, and after people have been cautioned they rarely commit the
offense again. I will admit this must be done in a tactful way,
for a grown person does not wish to be dictated to in the library
as though he were a child in school. There are a few old men and
women who persist in talking in a loud tone of voice; we know it
would hurt their feelings if they were told to be quiet and
therefore we wait upon them quickly, even ahead of their turn and
so get rid of them as soon as possible.
The boys and girls of the High School have to be spoken to quite
frequently as they are so imbued with a sense of their own
importance that they have very little regard for the order of the
library. The most effective appeal which can be made to them is
to suggest that every one has equal rights in the library and
that when other people come who wish quiet in the reading rooms,
the High School pupils have no right to deprive them of it.
One evening the pupils were unusually noisy, we had cautioned
them in vain to be quiet, and finally I ordered them all to leave
the library. They were simply aghast for they were to have a test
in history the following day and the material could only be
procured from our reference shelves. I was aware of this at the
time but felt drastic measures must be taken to show them that
the three readers who shared the room with them had a right to
undisturbed order. They plead with me in vain, and finally
admitted that they deserved their punishment. It is needless to
say that their history teacher approved my actions and that for
weeks afterwards we had no more trouble with High School
students.
The library is never used as a club or meeting-place by people
for we discourage all attempts at visiting among our patrons.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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