Reminder about Food and Drink Policy in the Young Auditorium

One of the challenges of working in a library is adhering to the same policies you want to apply to your users. I have noticed a deterioration in our own adherence to the “no food and drink” policy in the Young Auditorium. I once had to askPresident Todd not to take his coffee in and I’ll admit I have trouble adhering to the policy as well. I read this blog entry recently and thought it well captured the spirit of why we ask you, our faculty and staff, to adhere as well.

From Library Garden – http://librarygarden.blogspot.com/2009/02/open-letter-to-visiting-professionals.html
An Open Letter to Visiting Professionals
By Cynthia Lambert

Welcome!
Thank you for coming--we love to share our space and are happy to have you here. As in many libraries (and I suspect in yours), we have a policy here that states: No Food or Drink in the Library. We hate to tell our patrons no, but have no choice—this is a sensible policy as food and drink stain furniture and carpets and destroys library materials. In this age of the ubiquitous Starbucks cup, coffee cop is one of the worst parts of our jobs.

We try to enforce the rules fairly, but sometimes we do not see the offense. However, when you approach the public desk with a steaming cup of coffee in your hands, you should expect to be told about the policy. Please do not roll your eyes, sigh, or scowl—as you know, we are on the front-lines and just doing our job. When you follow-up with "I am here for the [Insert meeting name here]", please understand that is the library equivalent of a celebrity exclaiming ‘Do you know who I am’. It does not change the rule which we are duty bound to enforce fairly.

Please keep this in mind when visiting another library—we understand your desire to have coffee while at your meeting. We understand you are careful and are unlikely to spill. We do not want to tell you no. However, we can not make an exception for you. It is unfair. It makes our job harder. Please do not ask. You see, the other patrons do not know who you are.Thank you.