A Library Etiquette Primer

This late into the semester, it is often easy to forget what is socially acceptable and what is not when visiting Leyburn library. To ensure that every student has a pleasant experience in the library, whether it be waiting for the tardy member of one’s group project on the main floor or taking respite in the quiet fourth floor bathrooms, we have compiled these top etiquette tips for our dear readers:

Dining

• For snacks, bring the loudest packaging you can find. Open it as slowly as possible to make sure that every rustle and crinkle can be heard throughout the entire floor.
• During midterms, be sure to leave empty bottles and cups on your carrel shelf as a cairn to find your way back come finals week.

Technology

• Feel free to use your laptop while seated at an idle desktop, who needs that dinosaur of a computer anyway?
• If your friend with their Airpods in cannot hear you, just repeat their name at a increasingly loud volume until they look up.
• Yes, you could move closer to that outlet, or you could create an exciting obstacle course by running your cord cord directly across a walkway and over several desks.

Conversation

• Main Floor: On the main floor, volume does not matter; this is essentially the lounge of a social club. Crowd around one table and hold an extended, loud conversation rehashing one’s clearly wild night this past Wednesday. The more people that can hear you, the better.
• 1st Floor: Sure, that person over there seems like they’re trying to get work done, but this floor remains the best place for exchanging gossip between two to four persons. Be sure to add in bouts of laughter at random intervals.
• 2nd Floor: The art of the stage whisper is hard to master. Try your best, but if at first you don’t succeed, just talk normally, as there are only, like, five other people here.
• 3rd Floor: Do your best to whisper when showing your friend in the next carrel a meme. If you do let out too loud a chortle, you may receive some glares, but they’re the ones who procrastinated, aren’t they?
• 4th Floor: The only sound down here should be the rumbles and bangs of the rolling bookshelves.
• Elevators: If the elevator has only one to three persons inside, give a braced smile and press your respective button. If the elevator has more than five people and you are feeling chatty, offer a light “cozy in here!” as you enter and make the other passengers cram even closer to one another.

— Anna Kate Benedict ’20