The Library is going with the times. The shushing librarian is a thing of the past. Not that I have have ever encountered a shushing librarian here or have ever shushed a user myself in my lengthy career at this institution, but a new apparatus will make shushing obsolete once and for all.Last week, an earplug dispenser was mounted at the entrance to the main reading room. I am told that they are selling well.
This is not a sign of capitulation to noisy users, or a sign that librarians have lost all authority. It is a sign of capitulation to the technological changes thrust upon us. Most of the noise in the reading room comes from users typing on their laptops, from mobile phones ringing and from users running outside in order to use their mobile phones.
As none of the users can do without laptops and mobile phones and the use of these devices in the reading room is deemed not just acceptable, but actually necessary by pretty much everybody, the obvious solution to make everybody happy is to offer people an opportunity to plug their ears. And so our perception of the world changes yet again.
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You never shushed? That somewhat contradicts one of your librarian haiku's. Which I still find very good, by the way.
I never shushed anyone in the library. Neither does the haiku claim that I did. The line goes "Shushing sound is heard", which does not say anything about who shushed.