Perhaps I am being old fashioned, but the tolerance of some aspects of behaviour in the library beggars belief. Its not so much that they misbehave, as its what kids do, its more that no one does anything about it, to the detriment of others who want to read in peace.

I go there most Friday afternoons with my young child. If she cries and screams in the adult section I take her out of there and back to the younger childrens section where its more permissable. I want her to learn that there is a time and place.

The last two Fridays I have witnessed screaming adolescents running around throwing their bags around and one even picked up a chair as if he was going to throw it at someone. One of the staff tried to deal with it by suggesting that they may be asked to leave and he was told to eff off. It didn't help that he was smiling and almost being jovial when he spoke to them so they knew quite well he was not serious. Yesterday some teenage girls decided to empty another girls bag in the middle of the room and this led to more screaming.

Personally I am no longer going to be using the library outside school hours as its too much hassle and I am concerned about my own child being accidentally knocked over by flying school bags. I also want her to enjoy books without an adjacent floor show. I think this issue needs to be urgently addressed by the Council in some way and/or the schools where these children are from, ie Holy Trinity and Eliot Bank.