Keep it quiet in the library

There are places where cellphones ought not go.

Church services probably are at the top of the list. Classrooms,

as any teacher will say, are high up there. Movie theaters or

performing arts venues make the cut, if only for the good manners

involved in keeping quiet.

Libraries, certainly, deserve to be free of cellphones’ ringing,

too. As the locale that made the harsh “Shhhhhush” and firm “Quiet

please” into cliches that no self-respecting writer would employ,

libraries remain a last bastion of near silence in a time when there

is more and more noise. They are places of peace that deserve to

remain peaceful.

So, we applaud, albeit quietly and with reserve, the City

Council’s decision to pass a rule that imposes a $100 fine on people

talking on cellphones or letting them chime in that irritating way

only cellphones can. After all, a wicked look from a librarian can

only hush people for so long.

We’ll also make some noise for the council’s measured

consideration of this rule, which, as originally proposed by library

director Ron Hayden, went a bit too far: making the infraction a

misdemeanor, punishable by a $500 fine and up to six months in

prison. After all, no one should have to tell a cell mate they’re in

the slammer for cellphone abuse.

And if a person just cannot stand the thought of being

disconnected from the world for the time it takes to check out a

book, well, we have one radical suggestion and one perhaps a bit

friendlier.

Our radical suggestion is: Don’t go to the library. Keep jabbering

away with whomever you are talking, forgetting that you’re speaking

loud enough that everyone within 10 feet knows your half of the

conversation.

We say that while still professing that reading is critical to

learning and development, as study after study shows.

Our friendlier piece of advice, then: Put the cellphone on

vibrate. And check out a good book.