Democracy Dies in Darkness

It’s okay for libraries to be loud! Take it from me, a librarian.

In praise of the happy hubbub in the public library

Perspective by
(Illustration by Chelsea Charles for The Washington Post)
5 min

It was a quiet early afternoon in the library, and we librarians were enjoying a rather raucous chat at the circulation desk. Suddenly, a patron, who had been reading a magazine, marched up to us, gave us an annoyed “Shush!” and went back to her seat.

Stunned into silence, we tried not to giggle. How weird for a group of librarians to be shushed by a patron! Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

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