In our seminar today, we made observations of each floor.
Although I visited each floor, most of my observations were made on the ground floor, this included a stream of conciousness, people watching, and transcripts of dialogue.
3rd Floor
Sound of heaters that are actual air conditioning units. In the winter. It is too cold.
Laptops turning off and on, and the sound of the lift going up and down. 4 people on floor, reading, writing or typing, entirely uneventful.
2nd Floor
Quiet Monday morning chatter. Bookshelves being loaded. No other sound, only 6 people on the floor, not including myself. All at computers or librarians loading shelves. Almost more silent than the silent floor. So quiet I could die.
1st Floor
Florescent lights buzzing incessantly, so incredibly annoying. Low hum from heater. Even less people on this floor. Zibby Garnett library is something I did not know existed. It is still unusual that an entire room of the library has gone unnoticed for so long. I think loads of people will graduate without knowing it was there.
There are people coming up the stairs, turnstyles are making loud noises, the woman from the coffee stand is so loud I can hear her upstairs. She sounds like someone I know.
Ground Floor.
Initial thoughts
Coffee woman is even louder in the flesh.
Sitting in the back of the library. Three women talking, without looking I didn’t realise it was three people, it sounded like two.
Transcript
Woman A: You’ve got a choice of which screen to look at
Woman B: Yeah
[illegible]
Woman C:It would be better if you didn’t want to sit down, but also you don’t want to stand up.
Woman A: Money well spent.
[all laugh]
Woman A: I wanted a bigger whiteboard
Woman B: Yeah
Woman A: Like maybe even if it had to be mounted on like a wall bracket or something.
Woman C: I wanted another projector.
Woman B: There’s a whiteboard on one side.
Woman A: Right that’s good.
Ground floor extension.
Stream of conciousness.
People walking past,
They look cold and windswept outside.
Inside there are people at computers,
And everyone looks really bored.
People are wearing layers,
The heating is really awful here.
People are outside looking in, observing me observing them,
I am inside, they’re outside,
Like I am captive, they are spectators.
As far as entertainment factor goes,
I am not value for money.
Worst. Zoo. Ever.
Man borrows pen from other group member,
The fourth wall is broken.
‘Us’ and ‘Them’ are forced to interact.
Everyone looks tired.
My last pen stopped working.
It’s too early for that.
My glands in my neck feel swollen again.
Coffee Lady continues to be loud.
Too loud.
Shh. It’s a Library.