“At Libraries, Quiet Makes a Comeback”

The buzzing of smartphones, the clacking of computer keys, the chatter of study groups: Academic libraries aren't the quiet temples to scholarship they used to be….Library quiet is making a comeback, though, in part because students themselves are asking for it. "Students crave quiet as much as they crave conversation," says Karen G. Schneider, director for library services at Holy Names University, in Oakland, Calif., and proprietor of the Free Range Librarian blog. I talked to some librarians to find out what patrons are asking for and how libraries are responding.