[Web4lib] CAN LIBRARIES BE SOURCE OF CONTAMINATION?

[Thomas, Susan Elaine]

A few years back I went to a disaster preparedness workshop, mostly for
public librarians.  Someone there asked a question about children's
books being returned from a household known or busted for Meth.  The
response that came back was to throw them away.  I have not seen anyone
else really tackle this issue so it would be interesting to find out how
much of a hazard books like that might really pose.

Susan E. Thomas
suethoma at iusb.edu
South Bend, IN

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of John Fereira
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 12:49 PM
To: Hogue Melanie; web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: RE: [Web4lib] CAN LIBRARIES BE SOURCE OF CONTAMINATION?

At 12:05 PM 8/22/2007, Hogue Melanie wrote:
>In my library, we do wipe off the books after each circulation. That
>doesn't clean the pages, though.
>
>Yes, libraries are a source of germs. Having said that, so are schools,
>post offices, supermarkets, WalMart, airplanes and buses and their
>terminals, and virtually EVERY public place that exists in the world.
No
>one would suggest that we all live our entire lives in our homes for
>fear of touching something dirty. And, it certainly isn't a reason for
>the extinction of libraries!

It seems to me that keep a few boxes of those inexpensive disposable 
rubber gloves might
be a good idea, especially for handling rarer materials.



John Fereira
jaf30 at cornell.edu
Ithaca, NY 

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