[WEB4LIB] Re: Headphones

[Daniel Messer]

Phalbe Henriksen <phenriksen at earthlink.net> said:

 
> 4. Rubbing alcohol contains a *lot* of water. I wouldn't want to wet the 
> headphones over and over with alcohol.

This is true, and if they're the same headphones we use in our Gates labs 
they have an earpiece consisting of a sort of plastic over foam cover that 
give the headphones a look and feel similar to crepe paper, but much 
stronger. I wouldn't want to wet that down with alcohol over and over again 
either. Yet some others have proposed using Clorox wipes to do the same thing 
and I don't know if I'd want to wet down that foam substance again and again 
with Clorox as well. Now don't get me wrong. Those Clorox wipes are a 
godsend! I use them around the house all the time and they have probably 
shaved close to an hour off the time it takes me to clean the whole house 
because I don't have to use a spray bottle and a rag anymore. I just don't 
know if either would be good for those headphones on a regular basis. But if 
I had to choose, the Clorox wins.

> 
> 5. I consider it very bad service to respond to a patron who voices concern 
> about cleanliness by saying "then bring your own headphones." If a patron 
> has come to the library searching for information, and the best source 
> happens to be on the internet and includes sound, I feel as if we are under 
> obligation to make that resource available to the patron, whatever it 
> takes. (We don't require that patrons bring their own magnifying glass for 
> reading small print, either.)

I believe it was I who made the original suggestion about a patron bringing 
their own headphones. I did not intend to sound like one should force a 
patron to bring their own phones to the library. My original suggestion was 
to keep all the headphones behind a desk or in a cabinet or such like when 
they aren't in use. If a patron comes in and needs headphones to use them on 
the Gates computers, you lend them out to him/her. You could even check them 
out on their library card if you wanted to make sure you got them back. When 
they are done, they bring them back to the person in charge and that person 
cleans the phones with whatever the library deems necessary. I understand if 
a circ staff member doesn't want to deal with this and that's up to the 
individual library. The main thrust of the suggestion, which I admit probably 
didn't come across all too clearly, was that if a patron is THAT worried 
about headphone sanitation, one could point out that they are quite welcome 
to bring their own. That's all. :)

Regards to all!
Dan



-- 
Mondai wa
The subject in question...
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Daniel Messer
Technologies Instructor
Yakima Valley Regional Library
dmesser at yvrls.lib.wa.us
509-452-8541 ext 712
102 N 3rd St  Yakima, WA  98901
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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
                                         -Hunter S. Thompson