圖書館新規：館內禁止打盹

Host： You might think that public libraries are losing popularity， but the Edmonton Public Library in Alberta， Canada， remains a busy and popular place. Maybe a little too popular. Recently， librarians there realized some people—lots of people were not reading； they were sleeping. Hundreds of people， all day long. Pilar Martinez is with the Edmonton Public Library. We’re not just talking a few people， are we？ You， you found hundreds sleeping in the 1）stacks？

Pilar： We did. When we did some seating sweeps in a number of branches， including our main central branch， we found just about 500 people sleeping during that two-week period， when we did our seating sweeps three times a day.

Host： So， who are we talking about？ Who’s using the library in Edmonton as a， as a “nap zone”？

Pilar： Well， we didn’t profile people in terms of their backgrounds or career， so we， we don’t really know， but I suspect most of those people sleeping don’t have anywhere to sleep during the day， so that they are in a situation where they don’t have homes.

Host： What are you gonna do now？ Will you try and discourage sleeping in the library？

Pilar： Yeah， we are. And we’re already having those conversations where we’re letting people know if they are sleeping， that we will be having a prohibition against sleeping. We have been brave in initiating conversations with many social agencies to talk about what we can do as a community around this situation， because it really isn’t a library issue alone.

Host： Right.

Pilar： And we need to work to get together to resolve this.

Host： I think about the times I’ve gone to the library. And sometimes I can’t help myself. It’s nice and quiet， the air…

Pilar： Yes.

Host： …is kind of still， and I just， you know， I just clock off， and I…you know， I can’t help myself.

Pilar： Yeah， yeah. And I think we’ll be supportive of people. We， we’re fortunate that we have social workers and we’re well-connected with the community， so we have…we’re able to refer people to where they need to go to get the more appropriate level of service. You know， libraries are just one of the places that are welcoming spaces， that people feel comfortable going， and can sit and learn， and read， and just sit and relax， so it’s certainly something that’s not unique to Edmonton.

主持人：你大概覺得公共圖書館現在越來越不吃香，但加拿大艾伯塔省的埃德蒙頓公共圖書館至今仍是繁忙熱鬧的人氣場所——也許有點太受歡迎了。這里的圖書館員最近發現有些人——很多人并非在看書，他們其實是在蒙頭大睡。有數百號人會在這里從早睡到晚。皮拉爾·馬丁內斯是埃德蒙頓圖書館的工作人員。我們說的這些人不在少數，對吧？你們發現像這樣在書架間睡覺的有幾百人之多？

皮拉爾：沒錯。我們在包括主館在內的幾家分館巡視就座情況，在館內每天巡查三次；在這為期兩周的檢查中，我們發現有近五百人在蒙頭大睡。

主持人：那么說，我們在談論的這些人到底是誰？到底是些什么人將埃德蒙頓的圖書館當做“瞌睡勝地”呢？

皮拉爾：哦，我們并沒有對這些人的社會背景或者職業情況進行分析，因此我們也不太清楚；不過我想，大多數“瞌睡蟲”在白天沒有其他可以睡覺的地方，所以他們大概陷入了無家可歸的境況。

主持人：你們打算怎么做呢？規勸人們別在圖書館里睡覺嗎？

皮拉爾：是的，我們會這么做。我們已經在開展這類談話，讓人們知道如果他們還在這里睡覺，我們將會推出禁止打盹的新規。我們從不畏難，并已經和多家社工機構進行過磋商，共同討論各方作為一個社區應該如何應對這一情況，因為這確實并不單純是圖書館的難題。

主持人：沒錯。

皮拉爾：我們要共同努力才能解決這個問題。

主持人：我回憶了一下自己上圖書館的日子，有時候我也會忍不住打瞌睡。……