Some Elizabethtown College students choose to socialize in the High Library. Rather than doing work, they like to be loud and laugh with their friends. There would be nothing wrong with this if these people were the only ones in the Library. However, this is not the case. Too many times, I find myself having trouble focusing because some students near me are carrying out a conversation.
I do not believe that these students’ loud behavior is appropriate in the Library. I believe too many times people are very noisy and disruptive. The Library is a place where students go to get work done. It is not a place to go socialize with your friends. Many times, all of the study rooms are filled by students, so you are forced to do your work in the open floor. This requires students to be very close to each other while they work. I know from experience it is very hard to focus on your work when two people are engaged in a conversation. Even if the people having the conversation are not talking loud, it is still very easy to hear them. There are a hundred different places on campus for socializing and hanging out with friends. I just don’t understand why people think the Library is one of these places.
The quiet study rooms are a privilege. We are lucky that the College offers such a luxury. I believe this luxury is often abused by students. The study rooms are meant to be utilized for group study sessions, where students can go in and focus on studying or doing an assignment together. Often, just one student will be in there when the Library is extremely crowded. It is a little unnecessary for one person to take up an entire study room, but at least they are doing their work and doing it quietly. The real problem comes when a group of students take up a study room and make a lot of noise. Students seem to have this idea that the study rooms are soundproof and no noise can be heard through them. This is not the case at all. I have been in a study room where the people in the room next to me were all laughing and being loud. I could easily hear them and everything they were saying and it made it really hard for me to focus.
In general, students just don’t have respect for others in the Library. For example, I was in the computer lab the other day with about eight other people. Someone’s phone in the computer lab started ringing very loudly, and she answered the phone. For the next 15 minutes, she proceeded to have a conversation with her friend about nothing important at all. She did not seem to care that people were doing their work. Instead of having a page done in my paper, I found myself aware of what this girl’s plans were for the weekend, because she was talking that loud. Clearly, this alters your ability to focus on your work and get things done. It is just rude and inconsiderate.
Austin Brady, a senior accounting major spends a great deal of his time in the Library because of his demanding work load. He explains, “People really think that the study rooms are soundproof or something. I can hear people in the room next to me, and it makes it hard to focus.” Brady went on to say, “I often have certain times I need work handed in by, so being distracted and not getting work done in the Library is not an option for me.” I believe the hindrance of getting work done by loud and inconsiderate students is just not right.
There are times where the Library will be very quiet and no one is making any kind of disturbance. But this is how the Library should be. Libraries are intended to be silent and a place to focus on studies. College students have a hard enough time focusing when they are in the Library, they definitely don’t need people being loud and inappropriate as well.
