Tobacco smoke

I'm amazed that the argument being sought for elimination of smoking in
a library must be a preservation one.  Certainly there is adequate proof
that second hand smoke is injurious, and many,  many states have already
banned smoking in public buildings.  When I was still at the University
of Michigan, the state passed its legislation (1985) about smoking in
public buildings and the University allowed the individual units to
develop their interpretive stance.  The Library determined that, since
it could not guarantee a completely smoke-free environment for
non-smokers (no amount of external venting could give this guarantee),
all smoking would be banned.  At that time, smoking had been permitted
both in the staff lounge and in a student study lounge.

Silly me.  The penny just dropped:  we're talking about a major
tobacco-growing state, right?  Hmmmm.  I don't know of specific
references to the dangers of smoke as a gaseous hazard to materials but
there is certainly a case to be made for the danger of fire due to
incompletely stubbed butts.  I'll be interested to hear (read, actually)
how you resolve this!

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 4:20
                Distributed: Wednesday, October 17, 1990
                        Message Id: cdl-4-20-002
                                  ***