Food and drink in the library

I was rather surprised to read the query about food and drink. We make
it a matter of policy: if you bring food or drink into the reading rooms
you are liable to expulsion. In essence this is no different to smoking,
except that smoking damages people as well as books and manuscripts.
>From our perspective it seems that even thinking about allowing drinks
containers with lids into the reading rooms is tantamount to surrender
of an important principle. For us it is better to educate people to care
for manuscripts properly (and have sanctions to enforce the rules if
necessary) than to concede defeat. And it does work; no one would dream
of bringing a drink into our reading rooms.

Trevor Cooper

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 8:65
                 Distributed: Sunday, February 19, 1995
                        Message Id: cdl-8-65-012
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