Food in the Libraries
Abstract
The cause and effect relationship between food and libraries to date has not been sufficiently established in academic literature. Although some researchers in the past have suggested that the positive aspects of providing food within easy reach of library users, out way the negative aspects that others have suggest, which are that food attracts book eating insects. All the while other researchers have accepted the positive aspects of food in the library and focus their work on developing techniques with the purpose of preserving the book collections in the face of insect infestations. Through this inquiry it is hoped that we will learn from the experiences of other libraries concerning how they deal with food counters within their respective facilities.
Introduction
The main University of Florida Library building, Smathers Library West, has been undergoing construction since December of 2003. The building is scheduled to re-open to the public in July of 2006, and currently library administrators and university financial administrators are debating over allowing Starbuck to open a coffee and snack bar in a designated area of the new building. Library administrators at first had agreed to a coffee only bar, but are now reluctant to allow Starbucks to bring in baked goods to sell as they will attract book damaging insects. However the Assistant Vice President for Finance and Administration Bob Miller said, “a Starbucks would enhance the library's academic environment. The mixing of coffee and bookstores seems to go real well… Starbucks would bring a bigger space to serve more students, as well as a broader line of pastries and coffee…it gives students more choices, more options, more convenience.” Dale Canelas the Library Administrator states that she “originally planned for a small kiosk that serves Starbucks coffee and a few prepackaged snacks, not a full-service Starbucks café…a big food operation is not compatible with a library because it attracts cockroaches, termites and other bugs…when there's not enough food, they [the insects] eat books." Canelas also said that “more than one million people, potential café customers, visited the old Library West yearly,” which could be considered suggestive that financial interests are influencing the push of a full service Starbucks by the finance and administration departments of the university (Richards, Justin. (No Date). Books, coffee may mix. The Independent Florida Alligator. 2005, September 15).
The purpose of this investigation is to determine whether full service snack bars, which undoubtedly attract insects, are a financially secure investment for libraries? The interaction between food and the library is what will be studied. This interaction is worth studying because of the substantial investment that libraries place in their collection of books and in the building. Governments protect their foreign investments, through acts of war with other nations. It is a rule of the world we live in. So it is justifiable for libraries to conduct an investigation regarding the relationship that full service snack bars would have with the books and consequently be responsible for the deterioration of sometimes irreplaceable copies of books, and other types of media. The study will also look for the benefits of having snacks in the library from the library users point of view. It will also serve to promote the works of preservation departments, through the exploration of insect eradication techniques. It is hoped that the findings of this investigation will contribute to the general knowledge base regarding administrative decisions in libraries with the hopes of finding out the best possible ways to manage snacks in the library. Ideally the results of the study will allow us to create a general framework and a detailed list of viewpoints regarding how libraries should deal with food in the library. Libraries that are considering implementing food service policies in the future will be able to consult the results of this study in order to help them plan or decide on whether to put into operation a food service operation.
Literature Review
We will begin by looking at the response to a question inquiring about snack bars in libraries published in the American Libraries Journal. Sandy Whiteley the Program Officer, for the Association of College and Research Libraries, has responded with the following statements “if you don’t have a snack bar avoid it at all cost, if you must put one in, make sure that part of the food-service profits come to the library to cover cost of extra guards and cleaning help”. Whiteley advises as well that one should make it “clear to your administration [that] the library will need money to cover the costs attendant on providing the food service” (Whitley (1984, January). Action Exchange. American Libraries, pp. 14). So to take advantage of this previous knowledge the investigation will inquire about the food service expenses in order to facilitate the implementation of providing food services in the library.
Next we will look at a piece published in the Library Life section of the American Libraries journal. It praises two libraries in Okalahoma County that in 1974 installed snack and drink machines in a determined location of their libraries. They say in the piece “the way to a person’s heart is through the stomach.” And also says that libraries received “rave reviews from noticeable numbers of users, and plaudits from media people” (Unknown Author (1964. March). Library Snack Bars. Library Life, pp.131). This investigation as well will inquire about any feedback received from library users in libraries that presently sell food within their facility.
The commentary section of the American Libraries journal states that experts agree on using “ethylene oxide mixed with either carbon dioxide or freon. [and] where there is any possibility of re-infestation, whole building fumigation is necessary” and it says experts are opposed to the freezing techniques citing that sometimes the insect eggs survive the freezing (Poole, Frazer G. (1978 February), Library Journal, pp. 74). Further survey of literature on the subject of insect eradication has found Yale’s deep freeze technique to be recommended, due to its efficiency in the kill. And as well Jerome Brezner and Philip Luner promote their Nuke ‘em technique in an article published by the Library Journal on September 15, of 1989. However Sally Roggia, the Preservation Specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in a letter to the editor published in the Library Journal publication, points out the dangers and pitfalls of microwaving books, and suggests that it is in the libraries best interest to practice the freezing method which has been extensively studied and tested.
It is also the policy of the University of New York to allow no food in the libraries, on their website they have a an entire set of pages dedicated to explaining the problems caused by book eating insects, with illustrations and explanations concerning the distinct insects. Officials from the New York University Library say:
“Insects, such as cockroaches, booklice, silverfish, and a variety of beetles (generally referred to as "bookworms"), are attracted to organic substances in book materials: wood pulp, paper sizing, glue, paste, the starch found in cloth coverings, and leather. Food residue left on books is also highly attractive to insects. Strict control of environmental factors that contribute to insect infestation are a library’s best defense against this kind of damage. At Bobst [NYU] Library, the environment is kept cool and dry. Eating and drinking in the library is forbidden.”
The policy is place to prevent damage caused by insects to affect the collection of books ((No Date) NYU Library Preservation Information [Online]. Available: http://library.nyu.edu/preservation/presexh/insect.htm).
Previous research has not outlined any theories on the topic, but instead has provided some guidelines of what to do and how to deal with insect infestations. Some of the findings say yes have food in the library, while others say no. The current body of knowledge is too minute to allow for an informed decision to be made. By conducting a systematic survey of libraries in inquiring into those with food service operations it will be possible to put together an informative theory and guidebook for food service implementation and management in libraries.
Methodology
The concepts that the investigation will address are full service food retailers inside libraries, and providing five star services to users of the library. We will define full service food retailers as restaurants where food is prepared as opposed to snack bars, which sell prepackaged food. And we will define five star services as providing patrons with what they need and want regardless the cost created by providing the service. The reason for choosing the above mentioned concepts for the study is two fold. The variables obtained from the study will indicate the number and degree of insect infestations in libraries with full service food retailers inside the building, indicating consequentially the costs associated with book restoration. And as well indicate the levels of success yielded by providing five star service by looking for increases in the number of patrons when compared to the gate count records from years prior to the installation of full service food retailers in surveyed libraries. The results of the survey will allow for administrators at the University of Florida and other institutions as well to weight the costs of food sales in the library. In addition the study will incorporate a demographic variable into the research. Institution size and yearly patron visits to the library statistics will be collected to see if there are more large sized libraries with full service food retailers due to the possibility of increased revenues resulting from the larger number of possible customers, and as well to see if smaller size libraries do not have full service food retailers, because they are not be profitable.
The research design for this investigation will be the exploration model. As very little has been written on this topic we hope to find new techniques for dealing with providing food services, which will be of great benefit to all libraries. Earl Babbie has said in the text of The Practice of Social Research that “exploratory studies are most typically done for three purposes: (1) to satisfy the researcher’s curiosity and desire to better understanding, (2) to test the feasibility of undertaking a more careful study, and (3) to develop the methods to be employed in a more careful study” (Babbie, 1995, p. 54). Through the chosen research design of surveying libraries with full service snack bars, it will be possible to gain understanding of the situation and lay the ground for further research concerning the prevention of insect infestations and the maintenance of book collections with regards to insects and their relationship with full service food retailers. The survey will return both qualitative and quantitative results. Numbers will be used to address inquiries where statistics are all that are available, and short answers or comments will be used address other issues found to be pertinent to the investigation.
The subjects for the study will consist of library staff that will be reached by sending them an email explaining the study by using the abstract of this investigation as an introductory note. The full proposal will be attached for those interested in the rest of the investigation. The subjects we will focus on are those that receive the CIRCPLUS listserve, which reaches both public and academic libraries, and the LAMA-Buildings Division listserve.
The data collection procedures will consist of analyzing the information returned by the subjects of the study. A survey instrument that has been created for the purpose of this study will be distributed in the emails sent to the listserves, see Appendix 1. After the data is analyzed we will compile the data in order to create a guidebook and a theory for implementation and management of full service food retailers within libraries.
When analyzing the data collected we will use the elaboration model to “understand the relationship between two variables [full service snack bars and five star service] through the simultaneous introduction of a [n] additional variable [insects]” (Babbie, 1995, p. 396). The results will be interpreted by viewing tables listing the quantifiable data, and written sections will be used for interpreting additional results from short answer questions, which will allow for the qualitative results to be represented and understood.
Management Plan
As soon as approval has been granted the surveys will be sent out to the sample population and we will for wait their responses for a period of one month. Thereafter the quantifiable data collected will be assembled in tables, and an essay style analysis of the short answer sections of the survey will be compiled. The data analysis section of the investigation will consume two months, and at its completion the results will be published.
Time Table
01/20/2006 02/20/2006 04/20/2006
distribution begin analyzing results ready
of surveys surveys to publish
The personnel required for this investigation will be one researcher, along with a team of two assistants who will validate the resulting data reports for accuracy measures, where the assistants will compile the data separately from the main researcher. Afterwards the research team will meet and check the data for inconsistencies. The dissemination plans involve sending the email to the listserves and waiting for responses.
Budget
The main investigator will require for the three months of work a salary of six thousand dollars, and the two assistants will require a salary of two thousand dollars each. Benefits will not be requested for the short period of this investigation. We will conduct the investigation from our own homes, and will not need any additional equipment. No travel will be required for this experiment. And since all investigating operations will be carried out through electronic means we will have virtually no overhead, or need of office supplies, postage, stamps, etc.
Bibliography
Babbie, E. (2001). The practice of social research. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth
Brezner, Jerome; Luner, Philip (1989). Nuke 'em! Library Pest Control Using a Microwave. LibraryJournal, 114(15) 60.
Poole, Frazer G. (1978). Commentary: Fumigate the Area. AmericanLibraries, 99(2) 74.
Roggia, Sally (1989). No need to "nuke 'em". Library Journal, 114(20) 8.
Unknown Author (1976). Library Snack Bars. American Libraries, 7(3) 131.
Unknown Author (1978). Yale's deep freeze method kills book bugs. LibraryJournal, 103(4) 420.
Whitley, Sandy (1984). How to handle tax forms, book drops, due-date guns, and snack bars. AmericanLibraries, 15(1) 14-15.
(No Date) NYU Library Preservation Information [Online]. Available: http://library.nyu.edu/preservation/presexh/insect.htm.
Appendix 1
Snacks in the Library |