Listening to the Library

Libraries are stereotypically a quite place to study; some libraries even provide silent areas. This post is going to contradict this, as ironically my findings whilst listening to the surroundings was anything but quiet. I based myself in new computer room (on the right hand side as you enter the library). Whilst sitting there, listening, I found myself quite distressed due to the noise. Firstly, the turnstiles at the entrance were constantly turning, forever making a clunking noise every time, as well as the insistent beep when every student was scanning their student ID cards. On top of this, there is a coffee stand near this area, with two female baristas laughing and chatting loudly about their similarities of their hectic mornings. Following on from this, the coffee stand was making other noises. The women clanking their equipment when making a drink for passersby’s, as well as the intense steam sound, when releasing a valve in the machine. Although this juxtapose the quiet place of study, it was nice to hear these sounds and relate them back to the railway history which this Great Central Library holds.