Public libraries, you've probably noticed, aren't what they used to be.
No one comes around anymore to shush you for breathing too loud.
Increasingly, libraries are considered people places: a community centre; a spot to meet friends, play chess or video games; a concert venue; even a day-shelter for the homeless.
Around Sault Ste. Marie's James L. MacIntyre Centennial Library, some people think it's gone too far.
“There was a time that the library was a place of silence," Moyra O’Pallie, a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library board, was saying last week.
"But now it’s gotten so loud you cannot come in this library in the evening and read the paper or anything because of the noise,” O’Pallie said during a discussion about library rules of conduct at this month's director's meeting.
“There’s nothing written anywhere about keeping your voice down. I’ve asked the people at the desk to go and tell the people to sit down and stop shouting. But I don’t know how we can control this because the atmosphere has really changed. I don’t think we have to be silent. But I think if I’m talking to Elspeth [Belair, the board's vice chair] over here, they shouldn’t be hearing me over in the next room. That’s what’s happening right now.”
Matthew MacDonald, acting chief executive officer and director of public libraries, said he would classify that as disruptive.
"That’s when we can step in and say: Look, your volume is too loud. We need you to be a little bit quieter because you’re disturbing some of our other patrons,” MacDonald said.
"I was in here on Friday," interjected Elspeth Belair. "I don’t know how you’re going to alleviate that, because I just walked around looking at the Christmas decorations and there were three families in the children’s area. The kids were being kids. They were little wee ones and they were really noisy.”
"I didn’t mean that." O’Pallie responded. "That’s unusual. I'm talking about the activity that goes on in the large groups of high school kids."
Other board members suggested that library patrons who are sensitive to noise should be asked to move to the designated quiet study areas.
"I think part of the new imagining of libraries is public common spaces, but if things are getting rowdy, the same thing could be said about any public building if it's disruptive," said board chair Toni Nanne-Little. "Some people need that absolute quiet to read. It’s great that designated quiet area is available."