If this is a library, why are so many of you speaking on cellphones?
And while we’re at it, which of you decided to stick big, big blobs of bubble gum between the pages of After Man?
Dude, they can’t speak on cell phones if they’re chewing gum. Those things don’t just magically disappear.
Libraries are my house of “god”. They shoul;d not be sacrileged by stupid poeple who can barely read talking on thier cell phones. To me, that Entails Blasphemy.
Fucking Heathens.
Oooh…you’d probably hate the library at my school. There’s a Starbucks in there.
Well, at least they aren’t making out in the stacks…or are they?
I’d rather they made out in the stacks, at least that’s quiet and it won’t damage the books (if done properly.)
[sub](I once made out in the stacks… while working as a library assistant!!!)[/sub]
Security had to handcuff a 14-yr old at our library when he copped an attitude. He’d been told to “knock it off” when found necking with a girlfriend, and when remonstrated with tried to hit a cop. Bad move.
Only made out? Ha, that’s nothing. The challenge is sex in the stacks (at least depending on what library you’re in).
Many libraries are becoming more like coffeehouses now, since Borders and Barnes and Noble both allow people to grab a book off the shelf and read it right there. 
Are you suggesting that a employee should stand next to customers with a stopwatch loudly intoning that said customers only has 2 minutes to persue a particular book and decided whether or not to buy it, and after the 2 minutes are up, if the customer has not made a decision, the customer will be forced to leave the store?:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
Way to build up good customer service.
:rolleyes: :rolleyes: yourself. I mean, pleease. There’s a HUGE difference between flipping through a book for five or ten minutes, and reading the whole thing, breaking the spine, creasing pages, and possibly spilling on it (especially if there’s a coffeeshop nearby).
And why would you need more than two minutes anyways? Two or three minutes is long enough to decide if you want to read a paperback or basically any fiction book. You could make a case for a longer read being necessary to decide if you want to buy a reference or non-fiction book.
But if you want to sit around reading a paperback for 30 minutes in the Starbucks, you’re basically just being cheap. That’s way longer than you need to decide if you want to buy the book, and if you don’t want to buy it then you’re just damaging the merchandise.
If you’re lounging around reading it because you’re going to buy it on your way out, then by all means go ahead.
My 2 cents.
Don’t tell my mother.
I’m stupid.
Waittaminnute boys… she’s on to me…
Once I tried that. Flipping through a book for a couple of minutes to see if I wanted it, that is. Ended up reading the whole thing for about an hour before finally getting up and buying it. Darn soul-stealing books.
I knooow. What’s up with that? You just sitting there innocently perusing the shelves and then all of a sudden it sucks you in. Reminds me of this poem by Ishmael Reed beware : do not read this poem
“This poem has had you up to here / belch”
Believe me, I understand the addictive power of literature, and I already spend waaay to much money on books.
I forgot to add, see my sig
I’ve done that, too. I have also, when shopping with my sister or one of my friends, had all my books picked out* and had to wait for them to finish, so sat down and read one of my intended purchases until they were ready–if I’d’ve paid first, I don’t think they’d have let me go back into the store and sit down afterwards.
*You know, the point at which you can’t carry any more books or can’t afford more than what you’re already carrying.
People who make too much noise in libraries are rude, selfish, inconsiderate boors.
People who steal from libraries are low-down, no-good, thieving varmints.
People who vandalize or damage library books are lowlife trash.
Then there are people who vandalize or damage rare, irreplaceable, or one-of-a-kind library books (as was happening so much at the Library of Congress that they had to institute ever-stricter rules on who can access the stacks at all; they long ago went to a “closed stack” system, where patrons have to fill out a slip of paper requesting the book, then it’s brought out to them a few minutes later, but more recently I understand even LoC employees are subject to restrictions on who can go where). These people are Vandals, Visigoths, ignorant barbarians, mindless savages, termites who gnaw at the foundations of civilization, and ought to go live in the woods like Ted Kaczynski.
MEBuckner, yup, that’s the policy the Library of Congress has gone to all right. I went there this summer and they wouldn’t even let me into any place that had books without a library card.
To get a library card I had to first prove that I was a student and then fill out forms for close to 15 minutes so they could have my information and issue me a photo ID.
They checked that ID when I went into the library and searched my bag to make sure I didn’t steal anything when I left. On top of all this, there’s a security check just walking into the library screening both you and your belongings as you pass through metal detectors.
I didn’t find out about late fees but I think it includes a beheading.
Calvin: OMIGOSH! This library book is was due two days ago! What will they do? Are they going to interrogate me and beat me up?! Are they going to break my knees?? Will I have to sign some confession???
Mom: They’ll fine you ten cents. Now go return it.
Calvin: The way some of those librarians look at you, I naturally assumed the consequences would be more dire.
I’m still scared of the librarian at my university departmental library, six years after graduating.