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Okay, so I miss the old library. The one where you walked past the big, stately desk with the sole older, staid librarian who would "shush" you. I miss the card catalog and long tables with chairs and reading lamps and the studious, quiet, reverent atmosphere. Mostly, though, I miss the little study stations that lined the walls near with windows; where did they go and why? Now you walk in, and kids are running wild. Clerks are sitting around chatting and laughing at the front desk, there are banks of computers where people are talking aloud, including on their phones, and the "study" areas - which used to be private cubicles on the periphery, are now big comfy chairs arranged in a circle in the middle of the room, visible to everyone, mostly occupied by the local homeless population whom you're facing in close proximity if you sit in one. I realize that you can reserve a little dark, locked room if you want total privacy and quiet, but that's such a production and seems like overkill. I sometimes consider dropping my home internet and using public Wifi there instead, but it just doesn't seem conducive. When and why did libraries change from islands of contemplation to public squares and noisy all-purpose gathering places?
This is perhaps the quintessential example of missing something just because anything new is to be disliked.
The card catalog? Jesus, the current terminals with the instantaneous keyword/title/author search is orders of magnitude more useful.
A library is a repository of information. And today, that information is much more accessible than it was in days gone by. My Carnegie library is certainly an example of that. And it tries to live in 2023, not 1923. Fortunately.
Touring the NYC public library is on my bucket list.
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