Responses to Suggestions, Comments, and Questions

The following are our responses to messages submitted through this form.

Comment   I'm not sure if I this is the right forum for my complaint, but I just wanted to express my frustration about the lack of library etiquette lately.
I have a study carrel on the third floor and have used the library virtually every night for my schoolwork over the last 2 and a half years. Anyway, I was frustrated much of last semester by the change in etiquette in the library. While most people have good intentions in the library and simply sometimes forget where they are while they allow themselves to carry on loud conversations that can be heard throughout an entire floor, there are many people who seemingly just lack any care at all about respecting other people in a library setting.
For the most part, however, it has not become enough of an issue to really bother me. That is until this semester, when a fraternity recently decided to use the back left section of the third floor as their 'study hall' area on weeknight evenings. Instead of using it for study hall, howwever, they have completely disregarded myself as well as the other students quietly working around them, while they use their time for hanging out and carrying on loud and distracting conversations.
I just wanted to mention this to the library staff so that perhaps it is realized that maybe people are just forgetting how to act in a library and suggest the possibility of some way of enforcing simple library etiquette, so that the few people who actually still use the library for studying can continue to do so.   (1/22/06)
Response   Thanks for the comments. There are occasions when just about everybody "forgets themselves," but habitual abuse of the situation is another matter. A couple suggestions: If you are comfortable with doing so, approach the problem group yourself and ask them politely to reduce the noise. My experience has been that W&L students usually respond well to this sort of request.
If that does not work, please feel free to immediately contact a Reference Librarian during our normal working hours and one of us will be glad to speak to the problem group. We also will make a point to check on Lower Level 3 during our evening shifts.