Report: ALA discussion on food and drink policies

["Yvonne A. Carignan" <yc38@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Report

ALCTS/PARS
Preservation Issues in Small to Mid-Sized Preservation Programs 
Discussion Group
ALA New Orleans 1999

Food and Drink Policies in the Library
		

As a "thank you" to those who responded to our survey on food and drink 
policies, we are reporting the results both of the survey and the 
discussion at ALA.  

We had responses from thirteen institutions, 100% of which had written 
food and drink policies compared to 71% of the 72 institutions 
participating in the ARL survey reported in ARL Spec Kit #237, 
_Managing Food and Drink in ARL Libraries_.   Enforcement is equally 
divided between little or no enforcement, library staff enforcement, 
and a combination of library staff and security staff enforcement.

We asked if any have public coffee bars.  Three institutions currently 
or soon will have coffee bars.  No one reported using the profits from 
coffee bars to support preservation efforts, although we know that one 
non-responding institution does use coffee bar profits for extra 
cleaning and trash pickup in the library.

The discussion at ALA, as advertised, focused on problems and solutions 
related to food and drink in the library, as well as on promotional 
efforts.  Problems included staff resistance both to limiting their own 
eating and drinking habits and to enforcing no food and drink policies 
with the public.  Solutions included "picking your fights" to overcome 
resistance and compromise policies allowing certain closed containers 
for beverages.  

Patricia Palmer described the change in policy at Virginia Commonwealth 
University Libraries that seemed to typify many experiences and debates 
as policy relaxed to allow staff and patrons to drink from rigid 
plastic "approved" containers.  Food is still controversial, however, 
as it is not allowed in public areas, and staff can have only cold food 
in work areas where there are no library materials.  Hot meals can be 
prepared in staff lounges.

Normandy Simons Helmer, head of the University of Oregon Library's 
Preservation & Binding Department, described how her library promoted a 
new policy to allow certain kinds of beverage containers.  The 
Preservation Department created an eye-catching display with 
"permitted"and "not permitted" beverage containers.  The ARL Spec Kit 
included a University of Oregon policy and Web page, but URLs for two 
interesting and more recent pages are as follows: 			
. Why can't I eat in the Library?
http://libweb.uoregon.edu/preservn/eating.html

University [of Oregon] Library System: Food, Drink, and Tobacco Policy
http://libweb.uoregon.edu/policies/food-drink.html

Among our handouts, we included Web pages from Oberlin College which 
has a food and drink policy with fines for violations as well as links 
to virtual food.  The URL for the Oberlin policy is as follows: 	

http://www.oberlin.edu/library/services/administrative/food_policy.html	

We also displayed a bag submitted by Julie Page and specially designed 
for use at UC San Diego to hide staff lunches coming into the library. 
"EAT A GOOD BOOK LATELY?  PLEASE, DON'T EAT IN THE LIBRARY," a 
prize-winning poster from Cornell University's Preservation Department, 
was also on display. 

Thanks again to all who participated in the survey or discussion.	

----------------------

Yvonne Carignan					Patricia Palmer
Preservation Department Head			Head, Preservation Services	
McKeldin Library				Virginia Commonwealth University
University of Maryland 				Box 842033
College Park, MD 20742				Richmond, VA  23284-2033
yc38@xxxxxxxxxxxxx				phone: 	804.828.2287; 
VoiceMail: 301-405-9343				fax: 804.828.1051
					    	pepalmer@xxxxxxxxxxx