Latest library extra: quiet zones
Downtown’s Central Library offers patrons quiet rooms and about a fourth of neighborhood branch libraries provide “quiet zones” in adult reading areas. An undetermined number of additional libraries will add quiet zones in “the next couple of months,” said Mike Van Campen, Houston Public Library’s chief of neighborhood branches.
Van Campen said the quiet zones are designated with signs asking patrons to silence their cell phones.
“There’s an expectation that even conversations at a medium volume wouldn’t be encouraged,” he said.
Importance of quiet
Importance of quiet:
Listening Below the Noise: A Meditation on the Practice of Silence
One Square Inch of Silence: One Man’s Search for Natural Silence in a Noisy World