so today I was shushed

and i was not terribly happy about it!

I go downtown to the main City Library (not a part of my system--it's the new big urban branch that is so modern and "urbane" with the coffee bar and all the shops--the one that when i tell people i'm a librarian they always ask--"oh the new downtown library?"--no not that one) to meet my bookgroup and discuss The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin (which i finally read by the way--great book by one of my favorite authors--won both the Hugo and the Nebula awards) and we met in a meeting corner of the library.

As we were talking i noticed a security guard who kept going in and out of his office located near where we were meeting and he kept eyeing us. Now, as a librarian, i believe i know what volume is acceptable in a library, especially in a corner, next to a fireplace with no other patrons around (although perhaps i'm mistaken here.) We had been having our discussion for a couple of hours when the security guard came up to us and gave us the little "lowered hand" symbol meaning "keep it down" which was fine with me, though i failed to see what had suddenly changed about the volume of our conversation, but then he felt the need to add, in a condescending tone, "This is a Library!" which just slightly set me off and i repressed the urge to say "Yes, and i'm a librarian, Mr. Security Guard," which of course would have been totally uncalled for and probably slightly provocative in the sense of escalating the situation, but you know how it goes (or maybe i'm making an assumption here...)

and to think, just the other day i was relishing the art of shushing...