by Ryan Huffman
Sometimes at work, I’ll overhear light-hearted conversations about how the library is louder than people expected it to be. When I tell others where I work, it is usually followed by a wisecrack about how I probably sit around shushing people all day. One of those recent conversations got me thinking: libraries are probably one of the institutions that have changed the most over the centuries since the idea was introduced. Maybe I’m overstating that a bit, but hey, I work for a library, and I think we deserve some credit.
The concept of a library dates back at least thousands of years, starting with collections of clay tablets found in Elba (present-day Syria) and Sumer (present-day Iraq). Though I can’t speak to the noise policy in those early iterations, the “modern” public libraries that started popping up around Europe and North America in the 19th century certainly built a reputation along the way for being places where noise was vehemently frowned upon. Librarians were ready to spring from behind bookshelves, drop from ceiling tiles, and scurry from under tables, finger to lips, ready to shush the first person who breathed too loudly. Okay, not that last part, but silence was golden at the library, and that stereotype lives on–I suspect mostly for those that don’t regularly come to the library.
What I mean when I say “change” is not a shift in mission or values but flexibility in the manner and format of the information provided. Libraries used to be what I would call “manual” institutions. Some libraries predate the lightbulb, and what they had to offer were paper media: books, journals, newspapers, etc., and that’s just what a library was for many, many years. Electricity might have changed the game somewhat since candles and books aren’t exactly best friends, but I would say the personal computer, making its public debut in the mid-to-late 70’s, followed by the internet in the late 80s, were the biggest catalysts for change. Libraries weren’t always first in line to adopt new technology, but with a pedigree like that, I think we can overlook a little traditionalism every now and again.
Before technology, it was difficult to find information without the library because books were expensive. I would argue now it’s difficult to find the right information because there’s so much of it and verifying sources often seems secondary to breaking unverified “news” or gaining social capital with a believable but false “revelation”. The time it takes to independently verify sources and facts is daunting, and many people probably don’t even know where to begin. The modern library has e-resources and databases with information from sources that have already been vetted. The options from POWER Library alone are kind of staggering in terms of the variety and breadth of knowledge available.
The modern library doesn’t prioritize silence because we’ve learned that learning doesn’t always thrive in silence. What the library has to offer has expanded well beyond the boundaries of silence. Gone are the days of patrons quietly reading books or doing research, replaced with vibrant spaces with folks working on laptops, socializing with staff and other patrons, printing documents, and participating in library programs from arts & crafts to book clubs to movies to live music to STEM/STEAM programming. That’s not to say we don’t have a noise policy or that there aren’t quiet corners where you can hang out with a good book, but as far as I know, a test of one’s shushing skills is no longer part of the job interview process at the library (if they ever were). The change in format while maintaining the same mission and principles from libraries is, I think, pretty remarkable.
Ryan Huffman is Computer Systems Director for the Adams County Library System.