19 January 2010

Noisy Neighbours (in the Library)?

Floor 3 is silent study at the moment - if you find that you have noisy neighbours you can text a library attendant to deal with the problem, without leaving your seat.

Text 0121 204 4489 giving your family name, your student number, the floor you are sitting on and the word Noise.

9 comments:

  1. Wouldn't it be more sensible to simply encourage people to politely ask their ‘noisy neighbour’ to take the conversation elsewhere? Have people lost the ability to act with commonsense? The majority of people accept if they are being noisy and move on if asked politely, but why do people always need someone to speak on their behalf? Does a university of supposedly intellectual people lack basic social skills?

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  2. In an ideal world a quiet word with someone who was disturbing your library studies would be effective, however commonly the disturbance continues and back-up from library staff is needed. It may also be the case that some library users are not confident enough to speak to a group of people or come from a culture where they are not used to this interaction. LIS does value comments on services and suggestions for improvements to enhance the experience of its users and this option of texting for assistance is just another tool for this purpose.

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  3. I guess a common sense approach is the best here, and if you do find that either people do not move away with their noise or that for whatever reason you don't want to approach them in the first instance, then this texting idea is a good thing.

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  4. To be completely honest at times the 3rd floor can have just as many 'noisy names'. I find it amazingly rude, especially since it's designed to be a individual silent study floor. If anything more routine checks need to be done, and fines given out, as even if you tell people to quiet down, some still carry on.

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  5. I was nearly fined for texting on my mobile whilst sitting on the 1st floor 'group study' area (luckily my card refused to scan so they let me off). Have the strict and overzealous rules now changed that the use of mobiles for texting is now being permitted, even on 'silent study' floors?

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  6. In response to requests from library users, regular patrols by library staff do take place to ensure mobile phones are not being used to speak on or ringing out in a way that may disturb other people. The exception is in “phone zones“ in corridors or in stairwells. The library does in fact receive criticism from some of its users for not being strict or zealous enough in controlling the problem of noise disturbance.

    Using a mobile phone in silent mode (for example to text) is not against library regulations and should not in itself, elicit a report (scan) taking place.

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  7. I think the noisy neighbour texting idea is a good idea as I can sometimes feel intimidated to ask people to be quiet.

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  8. I added your blog to my interest list hope you don't mind as its for future viewing.
    MJ

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