Comments on: Fitting their Workflows: University of Queensland Library

By: Jó étvágyat - a könyvtárban • Blog Archive • fiksz dot klog

Jó étvágyat - a könyvtárban • Blog Archive • fiksz dot klog — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 05:32:41 +0000

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By: CBS Bibliotek Blog - Innovation & Ny Viden » Blog Archive » Ugens Link - uge 9

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:04:18 +0000

[...] Fitting their Workflows: University of Queensland Library – godt eksempel på en positiv skiltning og politik. Fremhæv det [...]

By: Mary Ellen Petrich

Mary Ellen Petrich — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:32:33 +0000

My local main library is a combined public and state university library. They allow covered drinks on all floors. “Snacks and wrapped foods consumed by an individual” are allowed on the public library floors. No food is allowed on the university floors. Food is allowed in meeting rooms. Food and drink is not allowed at computer terminals.

http://www.sjlibrary.org/legal/policies.htm?pID=226

To me ‘cold food’ is a lot easier to define than ’snacks and wrapped foods’. But I can see how either policy can lead to a lot of questions. Same with the air travel requirements that we not bring liquids on an airplane. What about yogurt, cheese cake, mayonnaise, etc?

By: Keith Webster

Keith Webster — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:22:19 +0000

I have seen mouse droppings – and mice – in libraries – oddly in those where food was banned. The suspicion was that students were eating behind the stacks, leaving crumbs and other remnants which attracted vermin. Our hope here at UQ is that people will feel able to eat in a manner which encourages sensible hygiene. We have installed a fleet of bins designed to hold leftover food and drink in a safe manner. I can feel the requests for a trash can picture coming on!

I must find out what the ruling on cold pizza is – to me it’s cold food, but I may be more permissive than those who have to manage the new policy.

By: Alan Unsworth

Alan Unsworth — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:38:37 +0000

A simple “no food, please” policy is relatively easy to explain, and easy to enforce. Food policies that try to limit which kinds of food, or where, or if they are hot or cold, do nothing to protect libraries, or the social conventions that allow them to work. And every library that allows some food, in some locations, makes it more difficult for other libraries to keep it out. Not to mention some of the side effects…anybody seen cockroaches in a library, or mouse droppings? I have.

By: Jennie

Jennie — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:05:26 +0000

I’d actually let in cold pizza (and would encourage students to bring it!). The general objection here is to the wafting aromas more than the actual food. Of course I was likely the lone dissenting opinion on our policy – I wanted it to be much less restrictive than it ended up being.

By: Sue

Sue — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:45:02 +0000

You know of course some student will bring in a cold piece of pizza and say “well, you said cold food was okay.” So do you go by the words or the pictures?

By: The old codger

The old codger — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:11:57 +0000

That may work well for a general library or in academia, but since I work in an archives we don’t allow any food for obvious reasons.

By: Jennie

Jennie — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 06:57:36 +0000

We have a similar policy, but their signage is superior (well, we don’t have any food/drink signs in most of our libraries). I like the positive language and the clear examples.

By: John Nebauer

John Nebauer — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 05:28:11 +0000

We’re fortunate in that we have a very small library, so we’ve not felt it necessary to ban anything (because it’s easy to keep an eye on things). For me philosophically, I also feel that if as a staff member it’s good enough for me to eat lunch at my desk, our students should also be able to do likewise. I did my undergrad degree at UQ in the ’90s and the library was brilliant then, so I’m not surprised at how they responded

By: Lee

Lee — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:35:02 +0000

Brilliant.