Re: Protocols regarding food and drink in rare book collections

[Alexandra Mason <amason@KUHUB.CC.UKANS.EDU>]

This is a very refreshing and welcome enquiry from a member of Duke's
Library Council.  Concern for the physical welfare of the collections so
often takes a back seat to demands for approval of practices which are
thoughtlessly harmful to collections.
Despite some of the circling-the-wagons responses from some of us who tend
to take suggestions or even enquiries from laypersons as threats, I believe
that all of us would agree in our calmer moments that we would greatly
prefer to keep food and books at least 300 yards away from each other.
Unfortunately it is a firmly held urban legend (like the belief that
support for the football team results in substantial support for the
English Department and the library) that donors will give more money and
love to libraries, art museums, and other cultural institutions if they are
allowed to eat in them.  (I am sure there are cases where both of these are
true, but I am equally sure that these are rare.)  However, unless a
library is fortunate enough to have an area appropriately set aside for
public relations food consumption, most of us have to cope with these
events.  The best we can do is to keep the pest control and cleaning
programs functioning at a high level (surprisingly difficult of
accomplishment in many libraries) and make sure that everything is locked
away on these occasions, keeping it in mind that vermin laugh at
glass-fronted bookcases, and no book is exposed to food or drink.  How
libraries which have substantial reference collections in their public
reading/dining rooms accomplish this is an interesting question.
We must also be sure (and this may prove surprisingly difficult if we do
not have Library Councils with members as enlightened and concerned as
Professor Janan) that this exception to our rules about the consumption of
food near books does not lead to serious demands for consumption of food by
readers and staff while using books.
It would also behoove us to thank concerned members of our public for such
thoughtful questions rather than expressing resentment.
 




At 14:48 26/10/98 -0800, you wrote:
>Dear subscribers to the Ex Libris list,
>
>I am new to this list, and am neither a trained conservator nor a
>librarian, but for that very reason would like to pose a question to you
>all, who command more expertise than myself in these areas.  I am an
>associate professor in classical studies, and was this year appointed to
>our Library Council, an advisory body to the head of the library here at
>Duke University.
>
>For a few years (ever since Terry Sanford was president of Duke), it has
>been the policy in Duke's Perkins Library to make the Rare Book Room
>available for dinner parties, receptions, and the like where food and drink
>are served.  I find this policy alarming, since it seems to bring into the
>immediate environment of the rare books and manuscripts Perkins has
>collected over the years food and drink that will attract vermin, vermin
>who will then destroy the collection.  Moreover, a crowd of people and
>tables of steaming food seem to threaten the maintenance of proper humidity
>and temperature necessary to preserve our rarities.
>
>When I have voiced my concerns to the head of the rare books collection, he
>has replied that:
>
>1) the room in which such meals are served is carefully cleaned after each
>such event
>
>2) traps set for vermin have caught none (and so, he surmises, none are in
>the collection)
>
>3) the machines that measure temperature and humidity over time have
>recorded no excesses of either
>
>4) the books are shut away in glass cases, and so food and drink and
>humidity introduced by such events cannot harm them, because the books
>cannot be touched directly by comestibles or steam
>
>I find this counter-intuitive, and so am skeptical, but perhaps this is
>because I am simply not trained in conservation.
>
>So, I throw these out as questions to the list:
>
>1) am I correct to be alarmed over these practices?
>
>2) if I am, are there sources in print or on the Web--preferably sources
>that could boast formidable credentials--that would substantiate my
>opposition?
>
>3) what are the policies regarding food and drink in the rare books and
>manuscripts collections in your respective institutions?
>
>
>Any help that you can offer me would be welcomed gratefully.
>
>
>Regards,
>
>Micaela Janan
>
>
>
>Micaela Janan
>Director of Graduate Studies
>Department of Classical Studies
>Duke University
>Durham, NC 27708-0103
>
>
>
Alexandra Mason
Kenneth Spencer Research Library
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045-2800
Tel: 785/864-4334
FAX: 785/864-5803
E-mail: amason@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu