Why is the library cold?

For the most part of my time in the library, I need to wear a sweater. If I'm in the library for too long, then I sometimes have to wear a jacket above the sweater.

I began thinking about why the library is so cold. Another way to think of this is as follows: given that the library is cold, why hasn't it gotten warmer. One reason for this could be, what researchers have christened, "Diffusion of responsibility". In a nutshell, it says that nobody takes responsibility ( telling the librarian that it is too cold) because they think someone else would do it. In the next few lines, you can read the process that goes on in my head and my conversation with a few others.

Me to Myself: The library is too cold. Maybe it's just today.
Me to Myself: The library is still cold. Maybe I feel cold because I am from the India.
Me to Sophie: The library is too cold.
Sophie: Yeah even I feel cold. I think a lower temperature is conducive to studying and so they deliberately keep it cold.
Me to Myself: Or maybe it's just us.
Sophie: Maybe it's just us.
Me to Carlos: The library is cold.
Carlos: Yeah a lot of people tell me it's cold.
Me to Myself: If everyone feels cold, then someone would have already told the librarian that it's cold. If someone did already tell the librarian, and it is still too cold, then maybe its because the librarian said that this is how it is supposed to be. So I guess there is nothing I could do about it.

I hesitate to take responsibility because I think someone else will or that someone else already has. If we all took responsibility and told the librarian, then maybe it might become warmer.  Malcolm Gladwell also uses the same theory to explain why not one of Kity Genovese's neighbor called the police when she was being murdered in the middle of the street in her neighborhood. People heard her scream for help, but their reluctance to call the police was fostered by the thought that someone else probably already called the police.

Me to Myself: I should email this article to my librarian.
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