Don’t miss Dominican GSLIS Alum Leah White’s article in LJ:
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6652439.html
So what do the survey results tell us? “A good rule of thumb: if you wouldn’t stop a face-to-face conversation between patrons, then you have no justification for stopping a technology-mediated conversation,” observed one library worker. “If you would stop a face-to-face conversation (e.g., in a Quiet Zone), then naturally cell phones would fall under the same policy.”
Library users voiced strikingly similar opinions. Users agreed that cell phone conversations should be kept to a minimum and should be conducted respectfully. Most respondents said they understood the need to monitor cell phone use in libraries but opposed banning their use outright. “Certainly, if I can use my phone to access the catalog, why ban its use altogether?” one library user noted. “It’s more of a conduct or ‘disruptive behavior’ issue than anything.”