Unfulfilled Expectations at the Library

byKeithDyer

255 followers

8 years ago

For the past two years I have been traveling to Florida with my brother to his "cabin in the woods". Nothing at all like the one in the movie :), it's a plain little modular home in the middle of Florida's Ocala National Forest. His getaway. He generally makes the trip twice a year; once in October for a couple of weeks, and again in January when he stays for about 3 months to escape the Ohio winter's. But in late October, early November, I go along to to enjoy the time away and help him clean everything up and get ready for his longer stay at the first of the year. It's the perfect time to get away from the bustle of city life for a couple of weeks, but I must confess that I go through some technology withdrawal without the use of my connected devices. :)

His place is situated in just the right spot so that my cellular provider is not available - no wi-fi, no interenet, no phone calls. ugh! To stay current with my business (there are things I need to do on a daily basis, even when I'm away from home) the only recourse I have is the Public Library. Thankfully, we have one, and it's only about 2 miles away so, I can easily visit there as often as necessary to jump on their wi-fi and take care of business.

Have you visited a public library lately? Prior to my recent visit here, the last time I was in a public library was to get a membership card which was required to sign-up for a free cycling program, available in my hometown. When I walked in, you could almost hear a pin drop it was so quiet. I approached the desk for help and the librarian spoke softly, almost in a whisper; and of course, I responded in like manner as expected. It was just the way I remember as a kid. Libraries were quiet places where people could read, research, and study without noisy distractions, and if anyone crossed the noise threshold they were quickly shoosh'd. (Is that a word?):)

Quite naturally, I walked into the Forest National Library in Oclawaha Florida with a pre-conditioned notion that I would experience that same reasonable silence I had come to expect from prior experience. Boy, was I wrong! Oh, it seemed quiet enough when I initially walked through the doors and found a place to sit and unpack my laptop, but from that point on there was nothing but distraction upon distraction - constant chatter!

It's not a very big library, and there were small groups of people (2 and 3) throughout, carrying on discussions; individuals walking through the isles reading book titles aloud (I mean, really? Who does that? Come on...), everyone who walked in and spoke with one of the librarians, did so in a louder than normal voice (or at least it seemed that way to me). Even the librarians interacted with laughter and loud talking. This was not at all how I remember libraries growing up!

Needless to say, I didn't get much accomplished. At least I had access to the internet though and was able to complete some essential tasks, but there was no quiet studying or research to be done here.

My experience did give me something to write about though! :) I just had to do it back at the cabin, offline. And when I complete this post, I have some additional ideas for for my website too!

So, what is your experience? Am I expecting too much? Have the rules changed in my old age? Is it just this branch, or is this the new norm for libraries? I'm curious about your experiences!

Frustrated in Florida,

Keith