I went to the library directly after class today to work on my project from my last post. Before we could meet, though, I had about an hour and a half to kill which I spent preparing for a presentation. I came here knowing that after me and my group mate finished our work I would probably stay here and do my weekly posting. There was a problem though: I had no idea what I was going to post about. Fear not, after about two minutes in the computer room inspiration struck. So, without further ado I bring you pet peeves: college library edition.
1. Not being able to find a computer (when there are people gaming using three).
I walk into the computer room in College Library and to my dismay (and surprise) it was packed. Now I’m not the type to just complain because I can’t get a computer in the room, first come first serve is a fair system of computer allocation if you ask me. However, I take issue when there are kids that are gaming on one computer and looking up how to play the game on their other computer. Oh! I almost forgot to mention the fact that this guy had headphones in and a laptop with iTunes on directly in front of him. Now call me crazy, but I’m not really sure why this kid would need any more than one computer in the lab, especially since he’s sitting with one of his own right there. That’s right, I’m being generous enough to allow for him to use two computers (one library and one personal) and not complain about it. Three computers is where I take an issue. That and the fact that his buddy next to him was doing the exact same thing. You don’t need two 24 inch screens right next to each other and a laptop in the middle. I’ve never tried, but can you even sign in on more than one computer at once? He might have had to use a friend’s account and password just to be able to pull of this ridiculously silly set up. I guess the only place they could pull it off was the lab.
2. People who think the library is their bathroom.
I’ve already mentioned my frustrations in finding a computer in the computer room, but that really didn’t take more than a few minutes before someone packed up and left. I quickly hurried over to the computer after the person in question had left and what do I find? Fingernail clippings, some strands of hair, crumbs from their snack, and just generally a nasty workspace. I brushed away all this nastiness when I discovered it, but this was not before I had put my arm down in a row of this combination and got a little bit of everything mentioned before stuck in my skin. Gross. Quick PSA guys: College Library isn’t your bathroom no matter how much you wish it was. How would you like it if you sat down in your chair, only to find a freshly coiled turd oozing into the back of your pants? What’s that you say? You wouldn’t like that at all? Yeah, me neither.
3. Loud people in the quiet section.
This one is pretty self explanatory. If I go into the quiet section I expect a reasonably low level of noise. I’m not saying that you need to just zip it and not say anything in there, it’s called the quiet section, not the mute section, but what I am saying is that if you are hanging out in there it shouldn’t sound like my living room on a Friday night. This has been my experience more than once in this section, although I can almost give a free pass for one of those times. It was the Wednesday (I think) before all those finals got snowed out last semester and I was in there when a kid stood on a chair and shouted, “Hell yeah, no finals tomorrow!” The room blew up into a round of applause and the noise really didn’t stop for about an hour. Maybe I’m a little out of line here, but the kids that didn’t need to study any more probably should have just left instead of staying for another hour not studying. They seemed to forget the fact that THERE WERE STILL FINALS ON FRIDAY! The other time I’m talking about I’m not exactly sure what happened, but I had a similarly noisy experience on Tuesday afternoon. It wasn’t as crowded, and not quite as noisy, but it definitely was weird.
If you’re going to the library, all I ask is that you have some respect for the materials and the people around you. It’s not hard. The library is a different place from your house and should be treated as such. I hope you enjoyed reading this and that your Monday wasn’t too brutal.
Harley L.
Said No One Ever at UW 
It seems like people are becoming more comfortable with making themselves at home and playing out their public lives in the computer labs. It’s like they think that if they are in front of a computer, that puts them in a personal space. I once sat next to a guy in the Collage Library computer lab who proceeded to have an emotional break up over the phone.