Libraries - no children allowed?

Warning, this is an angry post. I had an upsetting incident at a library and I'm steaming.

Here's the scene. We are in the children's section of the library (not our local one) and my 2 year old is exploring and chatting at a normal volume - believe me he wasn't being loud. I was tidying up some books my 2 year old had pulled out. My 4 year old is sitting a child-sized desk reading aloud from a book we had just checked out. We had been there less than 5 minutes. A "lady" in the adjacent section pops her head over the bookshelves (separating us from this anti-child fruitcake) and asks us to be quiet, we are "disturbing the computer users." Huh??????

Is the library intended for computer use or for reading and promoting literacy? We were in the children's section and my son was reading!

I wish I could go back and give that woman a large piece of my mind. She was not a librarian, by the way. (I think my reaction was complacent since I assumed it was an authority figure.) A child in the children's section reading a book aloud should not be told they are bothering a computer user! It is a small library so we all have to get along. Maybe she should go buy a laptop and pay for her own internet access! If you are that grouchy you need to stay home.

It also really bothers me that she said "users" like there were a whole bunch of people banded together wanting my son to stop reading. What a coward!Pin It