As usual, I studied in the public library this afternoon. The library was quite empty, with few people present today. Due to the warm and cozy atmosphere, I unconsciously drifted into a nap, finding it very relaxing. All of a sudden, I was awakened by the librarian, who informed me that sleeping in the library was not allowed. Confused, I asked why, to which she simply replied, “You just can’t sleep in the library; that’s the rule.”
Driven by confusion and curiosity, I conducted some research on the internet, where I stumbled upon an answer on Reddit provided by a librarian.
Here is what the post says:
From my perspective, there are three main reasons why public libraries have rules against napping.
Firstly, library staff may not be able to distinguish between someone sleeping and someone having a medical emergency. While it might seem like most of the time people are simply sleeping, in a busy library with thousands of visitors, even a small chance of a medical emergency adds up. I’ve witnessed several instances where what seemed like someone sleeping turned out to be a medical emergency.
Secondly, library resources are meant for active use by library patrons. Allowing napping without a policy could lead to multiple people occupying seats and tables, which potentially takes the opportunity away from people who do need it
Thirdly, there’s a concern for security. If someone falls asleep with personal belongings nearby and those belongings are stolen, it could lead to conflicts with library staff.
As a bonus point, while sleeping itself isn’t inherently problematic, it often accompanies other behaviors like taking off shoes, drooling, or snoring, which can disrupt the library environment and discomfort other patrons. For instance, there’s a regular occurrence in my area where someone falls asleep in a window seat, leaving her butt crack exposed.
References:
Chinese translation below:
平常我在公共图书馆学习。今天下午图书馆人很少，空荡荡的。因为氛围温暖舒适，我不知不觉间打了个盹，感觉非常放松。突然间，被图书馆管理员叫醒，告知图书馆禁止睡觉。我感到困惑，问为什么，她简单地回答说：“在图书馆里睡觉是不允许的，这是规定。”
受到困惑和好奇心的驱使，我在互联网上进行了一些研究，偶然间在 Reddit 上看到了一个图书馆员提供的答案。
以下是帖子的内容：
从我的角度看，公共图书馆禁止睡觉有三个主要原因。
首先，图书馆工作人员可能无法区分是人在睡觉还是有人遇到了医疗紧急情况。尽管大多数情况下人们只是在睡觉，但在一个繁忙的图书馆里，成千上万的访客，即使有一点点可能性出现医疗紧急情况，也是累积的。我见过好几次看似只是在睡觉的情况最终证实是医疗紧急情况。
其次，图书馆资源是供图书馆读者积极使用的。允许睡觉而没有政策可能会导致多人占用座位和桌子，这可能会让真正需要的人失去机会。
第三，存在安全方面的考虑。如果有人在附近放置个人物品睡着了，而这些物品被盗走，可能会引起与图书馆工作人员的冲突。
作为额外的一点，睡觉本身并不是问题，但它经常伴随着其他行为，如脱鞋、流口水或打鼾，这些可能会扰乱图书馆环境，使其他读者感到不舒服。例如，在我所在地区，经常发生这样的情况，有人在窗边座位上睡着了，露出了屁股缝隙。
