Denver's Hampden Branch

Below is an email I had to send to the senior librarian for the Denver public library system. It's long and not worth the read, but it needed to be said.

Shirley, 

I regret to say this email is not being sent as acknowledgement for superior service or as a compliment in other areas. This email finds you as a complaint of experiences I've had at the Hampden Branch over the recent past.

First, allow me to describe myself. I am an avid fan, and user, of the library system here in Denver. A member since the early 2000s, I have used the library nearly exclusively for books, movies and magazines for the past eight years. I visit the Hampden Branch approximately once a week, sometimes more depending on my schedule and have been known to spend time at University-Hills, Montbello, Smiley, Park Hill and Central as well. When I need to be have a nice quiet place to work I find a nearby library in lieu of a coffee shop for other restaurant.

Since it's close to home, I usually stop in at Hampden. However, it's become more and more frustrating to spend time there. 

Today I needed a place to work that provided internet access. I entered the library at about 1 o'clock expecting to stay until about three. I set up in a corner with 120v access and began working. It wasn't long before my attention was diverted from my work to a conversation more than 30 feet away. One of the library employees was trying to explain something to a customer in a very loud voice.

Once the patron was satisfied everything quieted down again. Then a few minute later another library employee began helping a person, again more than 30 feet away and again louder than anyone else in the entire building.

Once that man was helped, the library quieted down again.

This happened a few more times as library employees helped people print from the computers, helped them log on to the internet and generally answered basic questions.

None of this was a problem except for the volume. Each and every time the library employee was the loudest person in the building, not even pretending to be quiet or respectful to other library users. And each time I had to stop what I was doing and wait for the conversation to die down before I could concentrate again.

Finally, the proverbial straw. A man came to the reference desk for help finding a the television series Numb3rs. I know this because I could hear the entire conversation. He explained the the employee (Matt, I later learned) the premise of the show, the number of seasons and which season he was looking for a the library. He then asked about another show and then exclaimed, "Kevin Sorbo! Hercules?" He continued to talk at great length, at no time did the employee ask him to quiet down or speak in a hushed tone.

Finally, I'd had enough. Fifteen minutes or more had passed while I waited for the man to get the information he needed and quietly walk away, but it seemed as though he was more interested in talking loud enough to be heard across the library.

I finally left my laptop and approached, intending on reminding the man he was in a library and to be respectful of others. As I approached he walked off to pull something from a shelf. So, I returned to my laptop.

A few minutes later he was back at the reference desk talking to Matt about another television show. This time I approached and once again he walked off before I could say anything. Instead, I confronted Matt.

My first question was simple: had library standards changed since I was a kid? When I was in school we were taught to respect the sanctity of the library's quietness.

I informed him of my annoyance that library staff were incredibly loud to the point where I had to stop working and wait for them to finish before I could concentrate again. He tried explaining that schools were out and the library was busy. I corrected him, the children weren't being loud, the staff was being loud. He then tried to place the onus on the library customers once more explaining how the library was busier in the summer. Again, I explained, it wasn't the people in the library, it was the staff who seemed too loud.

He then told me to find a more remote corner of the library to take my laptop. Unfortunately, the Hampden branch isn't very large and the more remote corners were either already taken or did not have 120v access. I told him a story about the past. Just a few weeks prior I'd been using the "study" room. The door was closed and I could still hear a conversation between two library staff members re-shelving books a couple of aisles away. I finally had to leave the study room and remind them they were in a library and other people had an expectation of quiet.

Matt informed me library standards had changed over the years and noise wasn't as condemned as it had once been. He tried once more explaining to me how the staff could not control how loudly people spoke and I had to correct him once again, letting him know it wasn't the people, the children or anyone else being loud, it was the staff.

I told him about online reviews for the library branch and how I had to change mine from good to negative. Apparently I wasn't the only one, either. Five reviews on Google Place pages and four of them complained about the staff's loudness. http://goo.gl/3ggYNO

Either he couldn't comprehend or he refused to accept the fact that I was bringing the staff's volume to his attention, not the children or anyone else, who aside from a couple, were being perfectly quiet. I told him I could be loud too and switched to my outside voice. Heads turned. I let him know, if the library didn't have a noise standard any more then I was free to speak in that tone instead of the softer tone I'd been using. 

He then said he'd speak with the staff about their volume. I asked to speak with the manager, myself. Matt then informed he he was the manager.

I'll admit, at that point I became a little more confrontational. He obviously wasn't listening to what I was telling him and kept insisting there was nothing he could do about the customer's noise level. Again I had to explain that it was the staff were being noisy, not the patrons. I told him at that point, if he couldn't get it across to his employees that they should lead by example and confront people who are being excessively loud then he wasn't a very good manager.

That's when he shut the conversation down and told me to have a good day.

I make no excuse for my behavior other than frustration at the entire situation. After this experience with the library, I can't say I'll ever speak highly of the Denver library system again. I will continue to use it as is my right, but when people ask me where they can find this or that, I'll refer them elsewhere.