Many people go to Paley’s 3rd floor to study in a quiet area. However the floor is getting noisy and noise everyday. People talking on the phones, chatting with their friends, eating meals on the table. And I do not see any body commenting or stopping them from doing so. I’ve personnally asked some of people to quiet. Can you keep 3rd floor quiet please? Where else do i have to to study quietly on the campus if the library is too loud?

Have you noticed that it’s difficult to find a truly quiet public place these days. People on cell phones on public transportation. People talking loudly in movie theatres. People listening to music so loudly you can hear it through their headphones. Noise in public places is a societal issue because in general people are less considerate of their fellow citizens than they used to be. Paley Library – in fact all libraries – are not immune from this problem. A library used to be equated with golden silence, but that is no longer the case.

We appreciate that you are sharing your concerns with us, and it’s great that you have attempted to solve the problem by asking others around you to be quiet. What we’ve heard from our library colleagues at other institutions is that the most effective resolution to noise in the library is when students self-police and police their fellow students. When asked to hold down the noise, most students will politely comply, though we know this is not always the case.

What we’re attempting to do about the noise challenge is to use a “zoning” approach. We have specified different areas of the Paley Library as quiet zones or group study (noise-tolerant) zones. For example, the first floor west is a group zone – and noise there is tolerated. However, the east side of the first floor is a quiet zone, and we expect students to study quietly there. The east side of the second level, on the other hand, is a noise-tolerant zone. So please make sure that you are studying in one of the quiet zones. It is possible students will not be aware of which zone they are in. So if you are in a dedicated quiet zone and other students are making noise please do remind them they are in a quiet zone – all these zones are clearly marked when you enter them.

If you find a group of students are being particularly noisy or a single student is speaking loudly into a cell phone, first consider pointing out to the offending party about the quiet zone location. If the student(s) continues to be noisy, please bring it to the attention of a staff member who will intervene. Please bear in mind that at some late hours or on weekends we may not have sufficient staffing to attend to every noise situation.  

Hi! I noticed that nobody really seems to follow the food policy at all. I’m constantly seeing people with chinese food and other pretty smelly stuff not only on the ground floor but in the stacks as well. It’s not only the smell that’s gross but also the “eating sounds” and the mess that’s usually left behind. I’ve even seen people come to the library with food, eat it, and leave. Any way that the policy could be more prominently displayed?

Thanks for sharing your concerns about students eating what our policy refers to as “messy or aromatic” foods when in the library. We too are concerned when students ignore the policy rather than self-police their food consumption in Paley Library. Our policy does allow covered beverage containers and small snacks. As you point out, it can not only be distracting or even disturbing to other students, but food and beverage messes make the Library a less enjoyable place to study and it invites bugs and mice to boldly go wherever they can find food.

We currently display the policy on posters on every level of the library. This semester we added reminder cards about the food/beverage policy on computer tables throughout the first floor. Despite our efforts we acknowledge that it will be impossible to enforce this one hundred percent in a building of Paley’s size. Although the door guards will flag students bringing in obvious bags or containers of food, many students can easily conceal it in their book bags. Our food/beverage policy is one of self-enforcement, which may not always work. It is not our intention to police the policy and ask those violating it to leave the building. We want everyone to feel welcome in the building.

Please know that this isn’t a problem unique to Paley Library. We hear the same concerns about food and beverages from our library colleagues around the country. However, given the lack of good food consumption areas on campus and the food truck culture of Temple, it really does amplify the problem at Paley Library. What we have heard from our colleagues is that the best solution is for students to police each other. Simply reminding another student about the food policy may be the most effective way to encourage your fellow students to follow the policies. You might remind other students that the Library has a cafe on the first floor which is open for food consumption. 

If you see an egregious violation of the policy you may wish to bring it to a staff member’s attention. A staff member is able to bring the policy to the attention of students, but again, we typically will not ask students to discard their food or leave the building. We hope that over time more students will voluntarily observe the policy – and over the past two academic years – we have seen a significant reduction in the amount of food being consumed in the Library – thanks to both our cafe and signage. It may be a bit of exaggeration to say that “nobody follows the food policy at all.” Just look at all the food being consumed in the cafe. Notice how many students are only eating snacks – no messy foods. The vast majority of the students in Paley Library are following the policy. Unfortunately, there is a minority that ignores the policy. We hope to do better in the future with help from you and other students.