Category — Quiet Study

At my friend’s college, they have a thing on their website where if people are being loud, you can click the link and put your location and the problem. Then, a librarian or security will come and quiet them down or have them leave. I think we should definitely have this. At least for really loud people especially during the finals countdown period.

This is an interesting idea. Thanks for sharing. It would be great if you could let us know the college you are referring to, so we could look at how they are doing this. Please email me directly at carysn@missouri.edu.

It would be nice if the big quiet room on the second floor could no longer being used for “library events.”  It really aggravates me when “events” are given priority over students’ studies, and at a university library no less.

Thank you for your comment about events in the libraries. I will pass it along to library administration.

We do try to limit the events in that room, and usually only have a couple all year. I’m sure  you can understand that since it’s such a nice room, we have a lot of requests for the use of the room. We do take the impact that it will have on students very seriously. We hope that you will understand and can take advantage of our other quiet spaces during this time.

If you’re going to call the areas quiet areas you’ve got to enforce the rule. What are the purpose of the employees sitting in these areas that are designated quiet if they refuse to acknowledge the few people that talk and make it a difficult place to work for all students?  Confused.

Please address this issue!  Thank you.

I’m not sure which area you are referring to. We don’t have employees sitting in most of our quiet spaces. We do have security officers who make regular rounds of Ellis Library, and they enforce the quiet policy. If you are having problems with noise in a certain area, please let a security officer (they’re in the black polo shirts) know.

You might be talking about the computer area on the 1st floor that has been designated quiet. The student sitting in that area is actually an employee of the Division of IT, because that is a student computer lab which is run by them. I am sure if you ask the student worker to enforce the quiet policy they would be glad to do so.

Thanks for your comment.

Okay.. .not rocket science here. I am sitting in the quiet area on the first floor attempting to work/study and outside the window is a band with drums and guitars playing some religious music.  Not harping on this because it is religious in nature but because they are loud.

And, besides that they’re really bad.  Question  – you all allow a band to play outside the library – esp the quiet area on a Wednesday afternoon during prime hours? What am I paying for????

Unfortunately, we do not control what goes on in Lowry Mall. I will pass this on to our Security and Facilities staff, and they may know who to send complaints to about Lowry Mall events. Thanks for your comment.

People talking in the designated quiet areas (for example the computer area by the movies and magazines) and playing music through headphones that can be heard is becoming more and more of a problem that needs to be addressed. It is very annoying for students who are trying to get work done but are not able to focus because of the noise. Please do a better job at enforcing this.

Thank you for this comment. I will pass it on to our Security staff. Please feel free to let the Security staff (they’re in the black polos) know if you are being bothered by noisy patrons.

I am in the library right now and there is a group of students in the back by the windows that have been having a full out conversation and being really loud the past hour, can someone please advise them. it is 9/20/12 6:43pm . thank you very much

We do not monitor this suggestion form 24 hours a day. It’s best to contact Library Security when you are having problems with other patrons. The security officers wear black shirts, and they are located at each entrance. There are also officers walking through the library making regular checks, so feel free to speak to them about noisy patrons. Thanks.

Thank you for this observation. We will keep this comment on file if we decide to update our quiet policy. Right now we have three completely quiet areas in Ellis Library: the CPPR room on the 1^st floor, which has computers, and the two reading rooms (201 and 202) on the 2^nd floor. We also ask that students observe a general level of quiet on floors 2-4, but at this time we don’t feel like we can monitor the stairwells too. We do have security guards (the people with the black uniforms) that walk through the library throughout the day to enforce the quiet policies. But if there is a particular disturbance going on, please feel free to let the security staff at the west or north entrance know about the problem. Thanks.

Quite areas are infested with students on cell phones, chatty groups, and an overwhelming level of noise distractions.  While I understand it is imposible to cut out all noise from these areas, I think it would be easy to address by making quite areas begin at the bottom of the stair-well.  Students think it’s o.k. to have phone conversations in the stairway, but their voices carry into the rooms quite easily.  If the quiet area extended to the stairwells there would be a higher level of ambiance in these sections.  The current state is really quite annoying and distracting.  I think by changing this policy it will have a positive overall effect and increase awareness.  Please get back to me!

I’m sitting in the quiet computer areas right now, and I have been here for the last two weeks everyday. There’s a chinese girl who wears red backpack, and talk very loud everytime when I see her. Just a minutes ago, I have asked her directly to lower her voice, but she kept talking on the phone for a while in very loud voice.

She seems like to come this area everyday, and I have been very disturbed by her irrational acting so many times. Tow days ago, her phone rang about ten times in this area, and everyone just made their face but didn’t tell her anything.

I think there should be a security or even a part time worker to make sure this is a “Quiet Area.” The notes on every computer saying that “security will ask violators to leave the area” looks very funny to me, since I see the violator everyday.

Thank you for alerting us to this problem. The quiet computer area is actually a computer lab that is run by DoIT. Most of the time they have a student working in that area. But on the weekends when there is not a DoIT staff person present, you may contact the Ellis Library security guard who sits as the desk at the north entrance of the building.

If Security receive repeated complaints about a person, that person will be asked to stay out of the quiet area.

Our Security guards do walk throughout the building during the day, but they cannot be in all places at once. Please feel free to alert our staff whenever someone is not following our quiet policies. Thanks.

I completed my undergraduate degree in another state but came to MU to begin my graduate studies.  Ellis Library is a wonderful facility…but to consider it a learning facility is almost a joke at times.  Do people not know that you’re supposed to be quiet in a library?  That doesn’t mean absolutely no talking or any sort of noise…but it’s ridiculous when people (many people on many occasions) talk for extended periods of time in their regular tone/volume, and not even about anything urgent!  I just left and am going to attempt to do work in the student commons (which is actually much quieter than Ellis…which shouldn’t be the case) because multiple people felt that it was acceptable/normal to pick up their phones and talk about weekend plans or how hung over they were with no recognition of the fact that people around them were trying to do work and most had to wear earphones to block them out.

Library staff should walk around and stop this sort of disruptive, disgusting behavior.  Yes, I mean disgusting.  People shouldn’t be allowed to put their bare feet on the tables or curse loudly about their professors on the phone.  It sets a terrible image for the school and the caliber of students.  Of all the times I’ve been in the library, there has only been one instance when someone dared to speak up…others are probably terrified they’ll get the self-justifying death glare from those who can’t even bother to get a study room to brag about weekend conquests, relationship issues, and complain about how their professors are @#*(&@$’s.

We are sorry to that you were unable to study in Ellis Library due to noise. We do have different levels of noise control in Ellis Library. The first floor of Ellis, except for the Current Periodicals Room, is not a quiet study area. In this area, students are allowed to study in groups, use their cell phones and work with library staff on research. All other areas of the library are kept quiet to varying degrees. You can find a complete list of quiet study areas here.

Please contact a security officer (they are the ones in black shirts and pants), if you are in a quiet area and others are being disruptive.

As indicated by many of the previous suggestions, there is a noise problem in some areas of the library that should be quiet study areas. I’ve thought this a number of times myself, and I think it would be awesome if there were some way to remotely and anonymously notify security or library staff of noisy groups upstairs via the libraries website or a text message. I think that the simple act of advertising such a system with signs in the study rooms would serve to cut down on the problem considerably.

Thank you for that suggestion. I have passed it along to our Security Staff.