Shush!?
May 3rd, 2008SPLAT: “If it is an old cliche, but we still shush people at our libraries, are we doing it as a joke, or do we really mean it? And even if we’re shushing people as a joke, do the customers think that? The customers do not want to be shushed, so maybe we should all stop our shushing?“
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May 3rd, 2008 at 3:16 pm
We have had to supply earplugs in our library. Too many complaints about the noise! Customers might not want to be shushed, but other customers want them to be QUIET!!! ;O)
May 3rd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Maybe the customers who are being really loud don’t want to be shushed, but the others around them, who are trying to concentrate or quietly enjoy their visit, for whatever purpose, sure want them to be quieter, but don’t want to be the ones to ask. When I ask someone to not yell, or play music, or jump around, or drone on and on about their personal lives in the middle of the library, it’s for the benefit of the other customers around them, who usually give me a grateful look. I don’t consider this type of “shushing” cliched or bad. And I rarely make the actual “shhh” sound and almost never use finger-in-front-of-the-lips motion. Almost.
May 3rd, 2008 at 3:46 pm
I sure mean it when I shush! Although, like Helen, I rarely actually “shh!” I work in an academic library where we’re currently having our reading period (”dead week.”) If I don’t shush the noisy, their annoyed classmates might beat them. I find controlling noise necessary. But I certainly don’t enjoy it.
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:55 pm
If shushing stopped, what would SHUSH do at http://www.shush.ws/ ?