I remember when Kenmore library opened there was a letter to the editor from an irate woman complaining about the shrieking children. Kenmore is a small library with a little corner for a children’s area, which always kills me because kids (mine anyway) love to run off into the adult sections. It’s incredibly stressful as a parent to have a noisy kid and be trying to get them to stop because you don’t want them to disturb other people, but you also actually can’t make a young kid stop being noisy in any way that is legal or kind! So yes, I agree, separate areas would be ideal and would actually meet the needs of patrons in a far better way than open plan. Open plan is fine for patrons who are able to moderate their volume, but it’s even tricky for people who want to meet up to do group work and not loudly at that.
That said, I do love Mount Ommaney’s refurbished library, and noise from kids doesn’t bother me that much because if it’s not my kid I tune out ;).