Patrons upset over the “deafening silence” in the newly remodeled Laager Reading Room presented a petition to Library Director Laura Eckley demanding that something be done. “I don’t really care what they do,” one distressed patron said. “They could even put a cuckoo clock in there. Something… anything to break the monotony of nothing. When someone finally turns the page in a newspaper it’s like a bomb went off. It’s so loud. I liked the old library where you could hear phones jingling and the joyful hubbub of toddlers running up and down the ramp to the Children’s Room. It was like being in a casino, kind of cheerful if you know what I mean.”
“I can even hear myself think!” another patron interjected. “I come here to get away from my thoughts and now this.”
Eckley took the petition in the spirit it was meant. “I’m a little embarrassed,” she said. “I’ve been pestering the contractor to come back and fix the door that won’t stay shut. Turns out it was patrons leaving the door open on purpose.”