How to Mind Your Manners in a Library

Whether you’re a high school freshmen, a junior in college or a doctorate student, library etiquette is extremely important. Minding your manners in a library is not only critical for maintaining your concentration, it's also necessary for respecting the hard work of other library frequenters. Good library manners are easy to maintain, but they are often ignored. Read on to learn how to not act like that group of freshmen college students having social hour in the library or the irksome student with the ever-ringing cell.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Leave your cell phone on vibrate. If your vibrate setting is noisy, turn your phone volume off. Be sure to check that the volume is off before you come to the library; you may forget once you settle into your studies. If you find that you do need to make a call or pick up your phone to meet up with a study buddy, go to a corner or common area where being quiet is not enforced.
2. If you take a book off a shelf and find that you won’t be needing it for your research, either leave it on a table where library aides can pick it up and return it to the proper section or put it back in the same slot of the shelf where you found it. Jamming the book in a random section just to get rid of it makes it inaccessible to other readers for an unknowable amount of time--months or years perhaps.
3. Keep your conversations to a minimum. If you come to the library with a friend and need to say a few words, keep your voice down. Chattering annoys the other students, even if they don’t admit it or confront you. If you’re the type of person that studies best by talking through subjects, go to the common sections of the library, usually the ground floor where the common tables and catalogue computers are located or head to a local coffee shop. The stacks often have rooms with doors that are reserved for group study sessions as well.
4. If you’re using the common computers in the library, be sure it is for research or academic reasons. There is nothing more frustrating than searching around for an open computer and finding people idly checking their emails or gossiping on Instant Messenger.
5. Pick up your trash. Students often bring in coffee and snacks despite the regular prohibition of no eating or drinking. If you have wrappers or crumpled up papers, it is courteous to dispose of them afterwards, particularly if you are sitting at a table in a typically crowded area of the library.

Tips & Warnings

• Treat old books that you may find with care, particularly if the binding and pages appear to be antiquated and delicate. If you find a book that looks as though it belongs in the rare books or special collections, bring the book to the library staff for preservation.