We see you.
Sneaking a pretzel from the bag on your lap. Taking a quick bite of that sandwich and then stuffing it back in your pocket. Disappearing into the stacks with a bag of ding-dongs.
Yes, you.
Don't you know there's a rule? No food in the library?
Well, let's back up. "No food in the library" is an old chestnut, and many libraries still have it on the books. (Ha!) The arguments: people could spill on the books; bugs will come into the building; the mess; the smell; the cleanup.
These days, though, some libraries are relaxing their rules around food and drinks inside the building. I'm in favor of this, for several reasons... first and foremost being that people need to eat, and as we ask people to continue to fit library visits into their busy days, it helps a lot if they can meet their biological needs (or those of their children) while they're here. Also, one of our primary goals is to get our books into patrons' homes; surely they encounter food while they're there. The spills and smears we fear happen anyway.
Food *does* attract bugs. My library faces a yearly onslaught from the ant world every winter when the rainy season starts. Have you seen the movie 300? It's kind of like that, and the library staff are the noble, staid Greek soldiers, fighting until our last breath to hold off the unstoppable invading forces. I guess I don't have a great solution for that, aside from tighter food rules during active battle times... then again, nothing really does stop these little guys.
I'm looking forward to some good conversations about what it means to ban food in libraries, to allow some snacking, or maybe to allow food in certain areas or for programs. Does your library ask patrons to take the snacks outside? If you do allow food, what are the impacts? What are the impacts to patrons for those of us who don't allow food?
And we wish you'd share those ding-dongs.
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