ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries February 1994/81 No food, no drink, no noise By Elaine Clement and Patricia A. Scott An eye-catching response to a universal problem A s is probably the case with most other academic libraries, the University Librar­ ies at the Pennsylvania State University are con­ fronted with problems generated by food, drink, and noise. Patrons bring to the library many different behavior patterns. Students who have come from high schools where the library was also the cafeteria or the detention hall are of­ ten not in the habit o f leaving food or drinks and conversations outside the building. Our ex­ pectations of what their behavior should be is often at odds with reality. At the University Park Campus, concerns voiced by staff and faculty led to the formation o f a group to investigate the problem and sug­ gest solutions. The group was made up o f fac­ ulty and staff from public service areas in rare books, documents/maps, general reference, pe­ riodicals, the science branch libraries, and the undergraduate library (a 24-hour facility.) The campaign In January o f 1991 the group was convened by the assistant to the dean for public informa­ tion. As participants traded stories about noise levels in quiet study areas and pizza deliveries made to study carrels, it be­ came apparent that all li­ braries were plagued by the same problems in varying degrees. A dis­ cussion o f how staff in each o f the branch librar­ ies at University Park dealt with these problems revealed a lack of consistency among all the areas. Many staff were reluctant to confront student offend­ ers without a university-endorsed code of conduct for the li­ braries. Staff mem­ bers also felt un­ comfortable about approaching co­ workers who carry food and drink through the library during breaks or lunch. At the end of our first meeting we had reached two decisions: 1) we needed a written code o f conduct for patrons and staff to follow, and 2) we needed to make an organized and concerted effort to publicize it. Thus was born our “campaign” to curb food, drink, and noise problems in the libraries. Group opinion varied widely on what stan­ dards we should adopt and how they should be enforced. Despite this, during spring 1991 the group was able to reach consensus and drafted a food and noise policy. We began by searching library literature for articles about similar campaigns and examined the policies found in ALA’s Spec Kit Number 144, Building Use Policies. We incorporated parts o f these policies into our recommendations, adapting them to suit the needs of our institution. Getting students involved The group decided that eye-catching post ers would be an effective way to educate students about the damage caused by the presence o f food and drink and the disrup vtive effects o f noise. We enlisted the help o f a member o f the graphic arts faculty, who al­ lowed some o f his students to use our cam­ paign as a senior project. This idea of students Elaine Clement is earth and mineral sciences librarian/cataloger at Pennsylvania State University (PSU); e-mail: exc@psulias.psu.edu; Patricia A. Scott is map specialist at PSU; e-mail: pas@psulias.psu.edu mailto:exc@psulias.psu.edu mailto:pas@psulias.psu.edu 82/C&RL News designing for students appealed to the group because we felt it would have a greater impact on our primary audience. The students designed posters, brochures, bookmarks, and buttons that used four graph­ ics. Two graphics were aimed at noise control: one showed a picture of a lock and chain with the text “Laughing Learners Lock Your Lips!”; the other showed a clamp with the words “Clamorous Collegians Clamp Your Chops!" Both contained the tag line “Don't make noise in the library.” Two graphics targeted food and drink prob­ lems. One showed a cockroach with the text “Ravenous Roaches Ravage Rootbeer and Rare Books!” The other showed a silverfish with the text “Salivating Silver- fish Savor Sandwiches in the Stacks!” Each con­ tained the line “Don’t eat or drink in the li­ brary.” In summer 1991, after presenting mock-ups of the posters at a session for library faculty and staff, the final draft of the “Food, Drink and Noise Policy” was submitted to the Librar­ ies Academic Council. In August, group members distributed post­ ers and brochures to public service areas. The brochure stated the University Libraries’ mis­ sion; explained how food, drink, and noise hinder our efforts; and gave costs for replacing damaged materials in a way which would be meaningful to students. For example, the money needed to repair five damaged library books is equivalent to the cost of twelve issues of Bill­ board, or 45 issues of Rolling Stone, or 60 is­ sues of the Wall Street Journal. Printed publicity During fall 1991, the group conducted a pub­ licity campaign to acquaint users and staff with the policy. Articles appeared in the student newspaper, the student orien­ tation guide, and in the uni­ versity faculty and staff newsletter. Bookmarks and but­ tons were not distributed to public service desks until Janu­ ary 1992. An exhibit called “Trashing the Li­ braries: The Preservation Problem ” was mounted from late August through November in display cases in the lobby of the main li­ brary. The exhibit showed trash collected from wastebaskets in public service areas. From Oc­ tober 17 to October 24 a modular panel ex­ hibit from the Commission on Preservation and Access was installed in the public catalog room. By phasing in promotional materials we hoped to maintain interest in the campaign. In spring 1993, the group reconvened to as­ sess the campaign’s impact. All agreed that the posters and other materials had helped to im­ prove the situation, but in varying degrees. The undergraduate library had the most success in reducing food/drink/ noise incidents, largely due to the vigilance of its’ staff. All group mem­ bers agreed that having a brochure to explain our policy made confronting offenders easier and more positive. Some areas of the library reported little or no reduction in food, drink, and noise prob­ lems. As expected, student cooperation has been harder to achieve in areas with large study tables or where few staff members are visible. Two years after its inception, the “Univer­ sity Libraries Code of Conduct” has been ap­ proved. Training for faculty and staff on what the code means and how staff will be expected to handle food, drink and noise problems was scheduled for summer 1993. Conclusion The No Food, No Drink, No Noise Group mounted a campaign to heighten awareness of problems in the library. Our goal was to try to alleviate the problems through humor and non- confrontational means. In general, the group feels that the campaign was a success. A policy containing many specific recommendations for behavior was written and some of the sugges­ tions were incorporated into a broad “University Libraries Code o f Con­ duct,” which is now in place. A marketing plan was devised to phase in each aspect of the cam­ paign at timed intervals. Some of our ideas for publicizing our policy had to be dropped due to lack of funds (i.e., plastic bags printed with our logo), while others could not be implemented until a written code of con­ duct was approved (i.e., asking librarians to talk to students about the policy in orientation meetings and bibliographic instruction ses­ sions). February 1994/83 The graphic designs w e used worked very well for brochures, bookmarks, and buttons, but were not effective for communicating our message on posters. The messages “Don’t eat or drink in the library” and “Don’t make noise in the library” appeared in small print at the bottom o f the posters. The small print was in­ tended to provoke interest and encourage the viewer to take a closer look. One reason that people were not drawn to read the small print may have been because o f the height at which many posters had to be hung. Recommendations The group recommends the following actions to others who want to institute a similar cam­ paign in their library: 1) Have a code o f conduct in place before you begin the campaign. Both patrons and em­ ployees must know what is expected of them. 2) Closely examine the kinds o f problems most common in your library and where they occur. 3) Devise a plan to sell your campaign. Cal­ culate your costs and explore free sources of assistance. Check to see if a class can help. 4) Time the campaign so that things are in place at the beginning o f the fall semester. 5) Be prepared to rethink your position on food, drink, and noise issues. Achieving group consensus requires some compromise. 6) Gain administrative and staff commitment to the campaign. Signs alone w on’t change behavior. ■ (Indiana co n t.from page 75) o f the IU Department o f Afro-American Stud­ ies. For more information call (812) 855-8547. Although the aforementioned African Ameri­ can Studies collections are each housed in three different locations on the IU Bloomington cam­ pus, fundraising efforts are underway to build a new facility which could accommodate all three archives. About $2.5 million in private do­ nations must be raised to match state funding for the new building which will be named the Neal Marshall Black Culture Center. The new center is named after the first African American alumnus of IU, Marcellus Neal, 1895, and the first African American alumna of IU, Frances Marshall, 1919. To make a donation to the Neal Marshall Center, write to the IU Foundation, P.O. Box 500, Showalter House, Bloomington, IN 47402, or call (812) 855-8311. ■ (Censorship co n t.fro m page 78) heightened awareness o f the importance o f preparation for a censorship challenge. The whole process took one and a half months, but it seemed to drag out longer, perhaps pro­ longed by a sense o f insecurity or not knowing what to expect next. Censorship incidents can take a tremendous toll on a community, as evidenced in Cum­ berland County, North Carolina, where the pres­ ence o f Daddy’s Roommate and Heather Has Two Mommies (Alyson, 1989) on library shelves has delayed the construction o f five library branches.2 As academic librarians w e hadn’t been lulled into complacency, but nonetheless were surprised when it happened to us. The groundwork o f the past (the library’s “Collec­ tion Policy Statement,” and the affirmation of the concept o f intellectual freedom) proved to be invaluable. Six months after w e received the initial letter of complaint, we are in the midst of revising and updating our collection development statement. This experience will make us examine more closely the section on censorship and intellectual freedom, so rou­ tinely included in collection development poli­ cies, but never really expected to be used. Notes 1Mary Jo Godwin, “Conservative Groups Con­ tinue Their Fight to Ban Daddy’s Roommate,” American Libraries 23 (December 1992): 968. 2Michael J. Sadowski, “Book Controversy De­ lays New Branches,” School Library Journal 39 (May 1993): 12. ■ (Letters co nt.from page 80) ography, medieval French philology as well as medieval French philological bibliography. Why should a university bother to hire faculty in medieval French philology, or in chemistry, or in philosophy, if its librarians can teach and perform worldly research in these and all other subjects (as McKinzie seems to claim)? What librarians teach is (best called) BI, or (a bit less well called) documentation, or (even less well called) library skills. But to teach re­ search simpliciter, o f both kinds and in all sub­ jects— such a suggestion is on the face o f it unaware both o f what such researchers do and o f the meaning o f the words with which we describe them and their products.—J. M. Perreault, head o f special collections, the Uni­ versity o f Alabama in Huntsville ■