Content area
Full Text
Using Directional Speakers in an Academic Library
Christopher Ross Bowron and Kebede H. Wordofa
------------
Introduction
Academic libraries have long been regarded as places of quiet and solitude. Their commonly-held image is one of students working alone at long tables or isolated in study carrels as librarians walk through the building with glasses on the bridges of their noses, shushing anyone who dares to get loud. While this view of college and university libraries may still exist in some places, it is becoming increasingly rare as widespread shifts in user attitudes and expectations about acceptable levels of noise change the almost iconic belief that libraries are supposed to be silent.
Advances in communications technology are one of the primary contributors to ambient noise in most environments, including libraries. As far back as 1981, Luyben, Cohen, Conger, and Gration discussed concerns with rising library noise levels, mentioning several previous studies on the topic of noise reduction in libraries (Luyben, Cohen, Conger, & Gration, 1981). In addition to the sound of fax machines, printers and photocopiers, the 1990’s introduced cellular phone usage and its accompanying noise. Increasing prevalence of cell phone usage generated the idea of creating policies concerning the use of such devices in libraries (Rogers, 1999).
Since that time, the connectivity brought about by communications advances has caused libraries to include features to foster, enhance, and support collaboration to an even greater extent. Now, libraries often contain coffee shops, restaurants, group study areas, rows of computers, makerspaces, and other features that create, and even encourage, movement, conversation, and interaction. Users have come to expect these new features in the modern library. These expectations have led to an interesting challenge for libraries: balancing contemporary features which by their nature create noise, with the traditional expectation that a library is a quiet and calm place. Yelinek and Bressler (2013) addressed this challenge in a review that not only looked at the impact of louder environments in libraries, but also outlined various approaches libraries have taken to accommodate changing noise levels. These approaches include the creation of noise-free areas, using furniture types that tend to encourage or discourage library user interactions based on noise requirements, and developing various policies for noise regulation.
The challenge to balance these conflicting...