Convenience of School and Public Libraries - Essay Example

Places where I do research As a it is necessary for me to research. Research substantiates my reports not to mention that I learn a lot from them. I typically do my research in the public library but there are times that I go to public libaries to further look for information that may substantiate my reports and term papers. The school library is a convenient place to research. Almost all the information I need are available there. I am also comfortable there because of my familiarity of the place not to mention that I know many of the students who frequents there. The school library is exclusively for use by the students and has better facilities compared to the public library. The public library that I have been for research is at (supply the name of the public library near you). It also has an extensive collection of books but I am quite uncomfortable with the place because I am not familiar with it not to mention that everybody is a stranger. Since the school library is located in the campus of the university where I attend, all of the people there are also students like me. I know many of them who frequents there either as friend, classmates or acquiantances. The others are familiar to me by face because we have already met in the campus although we do not know each other personally. The distribution of the people who goes to my school library can be said to be homogenous and heterogenous. Homogenous because all of them are students of the same school I attend. It can also be heterogeneous because as a people, there are quite a variety of them. There are men, women, caucasian, hispanics, asians, blacks who goes there. The kind of information they research also varies depending on the course they are taking. Just like me, they also have choices to research on other places such as public library or even the internet. With regard to the public library, my observation is that almost all people there are strangers and that includes me. There were only very few ocassion where I observed that people know each other there. Perhaps due to the nature of library being public, that anybody can go there so its readership base is not only confined to a small group of people that knows each other. For me, I cannot establish any homogeneity among those who frequents in a public library. Everybody is just different because the people who goes there comes from different walks of life unlike in the school library where the people who goes there are only my fellow students and professors. The interactions of people who goes to in these two places are very different even if they are the same library. In the school library, you can observe that the students who goes there are very comfortable with the place as what I can observe in their body language. Body language is an accurate determinant of a person’s connection with a place as Eckartsberg explained in his study that “by means of his body and through the specialized perceiving sensibilities of his body, a person is continuously connected with aspects of his world” (256). The way they sit, browse through the aisles, walk, place there books on the table etch speaks of their familiarity of the place. There is also a sense of community in the school library, where we recognize each other by subtle body language (like smile and a hello) those who comes in our path. It can also be categorized as cordial especially if friends meet there (although it is not really a place for socialization). Even the staffs are known to us that asking them about a particular book or journal is very easy. Also, if most of the seats are occupied that there can be no seat apart from each student, I can always sit beside a fellow student where I am typically welcomed by a smile. I have not done this in a public library and made sure that there are several seats apart between me and the closest researcher because I do not know how the other people will react if I will sit close to him or her. I have this feeling that if I will sit beside a fellow researcher, I will not be welcomed by a smile but instead will be driven away with a frown. This is quite the opposite in the public library. When i went there, there is something within me that is quite defensive that I do not act like my normal ways. It is like I have a need to be proper there. The people are also strangers and even acted as more strangers because it is a place where people are not even suppose to socialize. The atmosphere is like “mind your own business” and if you have any books or journals that you need to find, you have that feeling that “it is your problem”. I am also hesitant to ask the staffs because I do not know them and they do not know me. I have a feeling that people there are terrritorial because you feel uncomfortable to go near a person where your needed books and journals are located. In sum, I find the public library to be a “lonely place” to study and research. Of course, all libraries has one common explicit rule, that is to “observe silence”. But somewhow, the school library and the public library seem to have different rules and the way they are observed. In the school library, it is a given that people there should be silent because people are researching and studying. But on instances when friends who have not seen each other for quite a while and cannot themselves to talk, it seems to be tolerable with the other people in the school library. But not for long of course. The people who cannot help themselves to talk go out of the library to continue their conversation and that seems to be an implied rule in the library. Perhaps, the people there being all students, have a common understanding about each other with regard to the decorum in the library. That it is okay to talk with long lost friends but not for long. The students who talked on the other hand seemed to know the implied rules to go out and continue their talk. Personally, I like this set up because it is not too rigid and provides allowance for the “emotional jests” of long lost friends and makes the library more “humane”. This allowance for “emotional jests” between friends does not exist in the public library. First, because I have never seen anyone there to be friends and second, I have a feeling there that people are intolerant to noise. There was a time when I stumbled on a chair and made a loud noise and already, I got sharp stare from the people (with some even frowining). Moreso with people talking, I am sure that the people who will talk there will get a very sharp stare and frowns from other people who are researching. What I am saying is that rules are strictly followed in public libraries and it does not provide allowance for the “emotional jests” of friends. With regard to length of stay in the library, I have observed some difference in these two places. I observed that the people who are researching in our school library has a tendency to stay longer. Perhaps most of us are comfortable with the place so even if we are done with our researches, we still stick around and read other things like magazines. There is also a season in the school library where it is jam packed. This typically happens during submission of term papers and exams. It is understandable because students has to research for their term papers and prepare for their exams. Public libraries are quite different in this regard. I observed that people there leaves after getting the information that they need. I observed it with myself too. After, getting the information I needed, I do not see any more reason to stay so I leave immediately. Perhaps public libraries are a lonely place to research and study which is why people immediately leaves after getting the information that they need. The number of people in the public library who are researching also stays the same regardless of season. Unlike in school library where there are more students who go to the library when the term ends with a tendency to stay longer, their is no seasonal increase in the number of people who goes into public libraries to study and research. Perhaps it is due to the fact that public libraries cater to the community who no longer has a need to submit term papers and pass exams. The school library as establishment has a formal hierarchy. Of course the staffs there are the people who have formal authority over the library and thus on top of the hierarchy. Although not imposed, professors who frequents in the library are also accorded with consideration. This is not explicit but it can be observed with the body language of the students who are researching and studying there. Professors are often greeted at, smiled at and treated nicely by the staffs and students. It is understandable and I think this naturally happens because students are grateful for them for the knowledge they impart. You can also observe their authority on the subjects they teach because they are often asked by other students who are researching which they gracefully respond to. The known scholars in the schools and the nerds follows next in the hierarchy. The library is their dominion and they are also often asked about certain subjects in the absence of professors. In public libraries, only the staffs there are the ones who are in charge. Therefore the only entity who may be on top of its hierarchy. But there are some people there whom I observed to be somewhat dominant as I can observe with their body language. Perhaps they are the old timers because their body language speaks familiarity of the place. As stated, all libraries have a general rule to “observe silence”. In addition to the school library providing allowance for the “emotional jests” of other students, there are also other rules that should be considered. That is borrowing books. Perhaps due to the familiarity of the place, I observe that students have the tendency to “overdue” the books that they loaned from the school library. Of course eventually they will also return it. I do not think that this is intentional on part of the students to break the “borrowing rules” of the school library only that they know it is not a big deal if books were “overdue”. This overdue books is a result more of complacency because students tend to procrastinate going to the library just to return books. This do not happen in the public library because there is no familiarity to speak of. Everybody seems to be a stranger so there is no allowance for bending the rules that happens between people and institution who are comfortable with each other. In the first place, I doubt if people can readily loan books from the public library. There have to be some arrangements to be made involving a library bureaucracy before one can borrow books. I did not even try to borrow books there because I do not know their procedures and I do not want to be obligated with the public library to return some books. The school library and and the public library may be a same place of study and research. But the human dynamics of the people who goes there are very different and that made these two places different. First, the public library does not exude an atmosphere of community which is present in the school library. This aspect is very important because it helps in researching when we are comfortable with a place. Because there is no feeling of community among those who study and research in public libraries, the place is such a very lonely place to study. Which explains why I seldomly observe people there to stay long. During the process of articulating the differences of these two places, I realized that even if these two places seem to be the same because they are both a place of study and research, the differences of the people who goes there made these two places different. The school library caters to the students while the public library caters to the community. These difference made the human dynamics of these two places different. The dynamics and human interaction cannot be the same because the type of people who goes there are different. In addition, I also observed that I am partial in my observation because I always used the school library as my point of reference. But I cannot blame myself, it is the place that I know more and it will be just natural that I will compare places with the ones that I am already familiar with. I think this peculiarity in observation does not only apply to me but other people as well. We naturally start our observation from our comfort zone and observes the phenomena around us with what we already know as a yardstick for our observation. Reference: Eckartsberg, Rolf von. “On the Geography of Human Experience”. Humanistic Psychologist 2010, 38 (3): 255-266 Read More

 

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