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# I JBoy Meets Girl, Mom Leaves |. Baby—Library A Social Hall? j;“Quiet,” the password for any library, is the opinion of Mrs. George K. Bennett librarian of the Langhome-Middletown Library.“It is sometimes difficultto make the users understandthat other patrons of our li -brary, whether adults or chil -drcn, come because they wantto use the reference books forstudy or research. To someothers, especially youngadults, a library is also aplace to do their dating—tomeet a girl friend or a boyfriend—because the library iscentrally located,” Mrs. Ben-ntt said. “We’d rather it would not be used for this social purpose, but if it is, it should be done quietly,” she said.“Something else can also happen at a library—children may be left at the library in the evening by parents who go on about their own affairs.If they do not return by the •time the library closes at nine o’clock, we are obliged to leave them outside, as the library must be closed and locked up at that time.” Children Left ThereMrs. Bennett also spoke of the small children. “They are left there unsupervised by the parents while the latter go shopping. Sometimes parents remain for a while chatting with some friend they meet.” She continued, “there are parents wh0 have complained because it is difficult for their son or daughter to concentrate on the books they must read for their term papers or classroom assignments. The number of such students has been increased since the opening of the Bucks College. For both those from the high schools and college must use our library because they have no means of transportation to their school libraries.“There are two reasons why we cannot control these annoyances in the library—the library is small, with no roomwhere students and research- 1 ers can go and be undisturbed, s and we are understaffed. For « this reason, we recently asked f our Library Association members to meet their annual dues with the hope that this added i income would make it possible j to employ another parttime librarian.They’re Not Babysitters“The librarian and an assistant are kept so busy check- 1 ing books in and out, answer- ' ing the telephone and helping j our users find the special in* , formation needed, that they have no time to assure the quiet atmosphere that many persons hope to find in a library.” Mrs. Bennett said.“All we can do at present is to ask parents and children i alike to cooperate by maintaining a standard that a library is not a place for boy and girl dating, for social conversations, or for use as a babysitting institution.”As Mrs. Bennett repeated, ‘Quiet’ is the password for any library.” j
Newspaper Details
Bristol Bucks County Courier
Bristol, Pennsylvania, US
Mon, Mar 21, 1966
Page 39
Full Page
Clipped by
Free L.
PA, USA 14 Apr 2025
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