[WEB4LIB] RE: Headphones -- revisited

[Lelia Nichols]

Hi, I posted the original question about headphone cleanliness.  And while I
know we cannot rid ourselves of all germs, my main concern was not
necessarily germs, but HEADLICE.  Our library is in the part of town with
underpriviledged children in the neighborhood. They run into the library
when not in school to entertain themselves on the computers.  We previously
did not have headphones.  When we acquired the headphones, my concern came
up.

We have found, that the new clorox wipes in the pop up containers work
great.  We clean the headphone each morning, (one wipe is wet enough to
clean several headphones) and have them available for patrons to ask for
them if they desire.  These are inexpensive compared to individual alcohol
wipes.

Thanks and don't worry so much...........
Lelia A. Nichols
Senior Computer Lab Assistant
Victoria Public Library
361-572-6867
lnichols at victoria.lib.tx.us



----- Original Message -----
From: Phalbe Henriksen <phenriksen at earthlink.net>
To: Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at webjunction.org>
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 6:47 PM
Subject: [WEB4LIB] RE: Headphones -- revisited


> Folks,
>
> I've just subscribed and looked at the archives ~
>
> On Jan. 3 & 11 of this year, there was a discussion about cleanliness of
> headphones on the Gates computers. As a former audiovisual librarian and
> now manager of four Gates Foundation computers, I'd like to throw in my
> take on this problem.
>
> Audiovisual departments that have had listening stations have worked on
> this problem for years. Libraries with *money* (from my lowly perspective)
> tend to go for the little sealed alcohol wipes. Cleaning the headphones
> between each use can get quite expensive, not to mention time consuming.
> The ultimate in cleanliness, though. I know of one library where they give
> the alcohol wipe to the patron and it's up to 'im/'er to clean the
> headphones. IIRC, this saves on the cost of the wipes, as people who don't
> use them leave them on the table.
>
> What we do is a compromise. We keep the headphones on the computer tables,
> sort of pushed to the back. Therefore, whatever we do, we start out with
in
> the morning. And that is to wrap each earpiece in the cheapest sandwich
bag
> we can buy. ('m not sure I can describe how we do this so securely that
> little children can't pull them off, but if anyone's interested, I'll try
> to write it up.)
>
> If a patron asks, we change the sandwich bag, so they get a clean one.
Very
> few people ask.
>
> We also wipe the earpieces with rubbing alcohol occasionally. One of our
> circ clerks is a cleanliness freak and this is just fodder for her
> obsession. Works for us.
>
> As for the headphones themselves, of the eight we received, seven have
been
> broken. They're nice headphones. Too nice. We buy the ones in the library
> catalogs made for rough school use to replace these nice ones.
>
> Phalbe Henriksen
> Director
> Bradford County Public Library
> Starke, FL
>
> "Perhaps the two most valuable and satisfactory products of American
> civilization are the librarian on the one hand and the cocktail in the
> other." -- Louis Stanley Jast
>