Ethnography

Jeffrey Zide

English 313

S. Wexler

Ethnography of the West Valley Regional Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library

Today, September 20, 2009 I went to the West Valley Regional Library. My purpose was to compose ethnography on the behavior, social interactions and the demographics of the population of the library. I would do this my making observations, writing them down and then analyzing these three components to determine the meaning of these small actions.

Observation of the library proved very simple and natural in that it was very easy to observe a multitude of signals of behavior of which can be taken as polite, honest or dishonest behavior, but mostly in fact, behavior is a product of context of peoples’ histories and within the context of the area: the library. First, dealing with the demographics the library had people off all races. However, there were considerably more people of college age than adults. Most of the people were of average wealth, though many were poor as a product of the economy. As for social interactions, there were a few and many of these seemed friendly without force. One interesting thing was that most of the librarians were older women though that should not come as a surprise. These interactions tended to make place among the people of college age (twenties plus or minus a few) and people who were younger than that. However, the relationships between the librarians, workers and the library customers seemed to be of the average tension. Many of the people working at the information desk seemed very tired and had a very strained but annoyed tone of voice. Their smiles when greeting library patrons seemed very strained. Many of the women workers had a very pleading tone of voice when saying next person in line and they were very impatient because they would start repeating that line in a more annoyed tone of voice about a second later. However, the front desk was a bit friendlier, if only gradually. This was where many of the friendlier interactions took place. Once I stepped into the library the interactions stopped as everyone knows you have to be quiet in a library. This is where I observed most of the small behaviors that didn’t involve dyadic communication.

Many people coughed and sighed, ironically this seemed only to apply to the older patrons. One older woman had a very persistent cough that would not go away.

As for the most popular items in the library, the computer ranked number one. Many people brought their own lab tops but the most visible excitement (which isn’t much considering the setting) was when people got on the computers. The only people who expressed their excitement with their voices were the young children who were extremely excited about the computer games. In all honesty most people were not reading or checking out books our even their for academic purposes but there were obvious exceptions

As for where I was, I was in the teen section which is the lounge area for the library. There were more non-teens than teens. Many of the older people which was about three compared to two seemed tired and were rubbing there faces or making long sighs. The girl who came up to sit next to me seemed in bliss reading something and looked extremely comfortable in that setting. A couple people moved out but she made absolutely no notice considering I practically knocked over the chair as I was getting out because I’m a total klutz. Many of the people my age were listening to music and seemed generally relaxed. One of the exceptions to the rule of grumpy adults was the man sitting behind me who had no book or anything and seemed very peaceful to do nothing but be at his thoughts.

As for everyone else, some people were studying and a lot people were looking for movies at the library and generally went to the information desk first. Most people my age seemed relax. As for the adults, their facial gestures and hand signs seemed tense and nervous with adults especially parents with their children. But for students and people the age of 25, there was quite a bit of small smiling and small laughs and giggles.

The only people talking on their cell phone was one man who seemed to be a little light on money as his clothes were rather faded and tattered was talking extremely politely to someone who seemed to be yelling at him and a Young women talking loudly and shall I say with colorful language as with tons of gestures was outside the library which goes to show that there are certain rules that apply by context of the area. You don’t curse or yell in libraries. However, for many people, libraries are sanctuaries of silence where they feel at home.

In general, analyzing why people are quiet and polite in library is extremely obvious but some things were a little odd to me like why people of older age seemed less comfortable than people who were younger. The most obvious explanation is that students tend to hang around libraries more often than not because they are quiet place to study. For a lot of students they do all the work in the library and go home after. For this reason many students and young people are comfortable at this library. For many adults, they only go to the library when they have to research for work or they are taking their children to check out books or other types of media. This is obviously because most adults have to work at other jobs and have the busiest schedules of the population of the library (excluding the retired and the elderly). As far as I could tell many of the adults seemed genuinely grumpy with long sighs, ticking noises coming from their mouths, sarcastic smiles and even when watching movies or listening to music, they tended to be in a foul mood. However, as mentioned before the man sitting behind me seemed very content where he was and really wasn’t doing anything which shows a high comfort level. I believe I actually had seen him before at this library. People liked computers is because digital technology as a rule is more exciting than older types of media like books. This is because it is much easier to get enjoyment out of something that gives the world at your fingertips without exerting much effort, as effort to read books whether or not you like them. As said, they were main attraction at the library and most of the people seemed playing computer games or on Facebook or MySpace. However, there were notable exceptions with people who were researching on the computer and the girl next to me who seemed perfectly happy to read her book. The library workers were tired simply because they had been working since the library had been open and the library was to close in one hour because it was 2’o clock and the library closes at three on Sundays. The explanation for the librarians being older women is that simply tradition that has how ii always has been.) I have never seen many male librarians mainly because society reading and learning as a feminine thing especially during football season and unfortunately that is a fact of life that I don’t think will change. The men were in general not reading, they were all on the computer, playing games or watching presentations or what have you. However, I will note that among the children the young girls tended to hog the computer games. From what I could tell the game did appear to be gender neutral and have bright colors but I always believe that bright colors is something children like as a rule and not a gender thing but I could be wrong about that. The workers tone of voice strained was obvious in that they were tired but were trying to avoid being rude and be friendly despite their discomfort so that the library patrons will have a good experience and will keep coming back.. For a final note, the person who was talking the loudest with tons of hand gestures was outside because she did not have to be constrained by the rules of the library. Similarly, the person man in tattered clothing was in the lobby. To be sure context is everything whether the place or the circumstances.

In conclusion, the library was pretty calm with only a little a bit tension etched on the faces of the patrons. This was all just a product of context of different peoples’ lives and situations. There were some people who were itching to get out, but in general most people were content with the quiet and were enjoying their book or movie in quiet. Most of us, especially young college students live such loud and hectic lives with people constantly jabbering one with us taking part, and with the invention of the internet it is much easier to make clear what we all feel and sometimes that can be a bad thing and just like the need to vent, humans just need a little piece and quiet to get away from it all and curl up with a good book.