shh.

what is it about the silence of libraries that almost makes you believe the books need it?
as if a loud clang would somehow injure, or at least insult, the silent tomes that surround you.

i thought of people dismantling unused shelves and i couldn't imagine it. what would happen? they couldn't do it quietly...

there's a picture on the third floor. (i can see it. you cannot. it's restricted.)
says something like "the horrid sacrilege of those who ill treat books"

for some reason, living in the library, as i tend to do, has added being loud around them to that sacrilegious list.

____
in other news, (not really. i was looking for a copy of that picture upstairs so i could properly quote it. what? run up there? meh. i will in an hour or so when i'm done with this stack.)
do you think i'm a "biblioprude"?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/books/review/Schott.t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

i especially like the editors' note:

Had editors been aware of Fadiman's essay, the Book Review would not have published Schott's.

ps-
now that i think of it, this question of silence seems an odd thought in a library that has been undergoing major renovations for what? 3 years?
huh. go figure.