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Food and Drink in the Library Committee Report

At the recommendation of the Coffee Shop Group, an ad-hoc committee was formed to develop a Library-wide programme to educate patrons about the need to eat and drink responsibly in the Library and to dispose of their waste appropriately.

The committee was comprised of:
Students: Marissa Lewis (Math), Christy Hughes (ES), and Bruce Davison (Systems Design);
Library staff: Kevin Rampersad, Donna Moeser, Michele Laing, Mary Stanley (Chair);
Jeff Chalmers, Food Services;
Patti Cook, UW Waste Management Co-ordinator.

Action

At our first meeting, committee members agreed that it was important to first gather data about the current food and drink situation in the libraries by conducting audits of Porter and Davis Libraries. Food and drink did not appear to be a problem in UMD Library. With this information in hand the committee could then develop recommendations.
There was also discussion about the most effective way to reach patrons. Students on the committee suggested that targeted messages would be more effective than the proposed poster campaign.
Tom Galloway, Plant Operations, was subsequently consulted about library cleaning schedules and to request information about problem spots in the libraries from his custodial staff.

Audits

The Committee conducted two sets of audits. Patti Cook led the audits and compiled the data. The first set of audits was conducted on Friday, March 10 in Porter and on Monday, March 13 in Davis. Overall, the group found both locations to be quite clean. Davis, in particular, was surprisingly clean. There were a few instances of garbage (drink containers, snack food wrappers) left in Porter study carrels and Committee members also identified areas that required additional garbage containers. While Davis Library appeared to have enough garbage containers, the group noted that there appeared to be confusion about where and what to recycle.

The second set of audits was conducted during peak exam/study time on April 10 and 14. The audit in Porter was conducted on a Monday afternoon after a busy weekend. Our attention was concentrated on floors 7 through 10 where it was discovered that 81% of the waste containers on those floors were full to overflowing. Waste was also left in the study carrels - 75% of it being recyclable paper, cans, glass, plastic bottles, etc.

The Davis Library audit was conducted on April 14 at 4 pm. The library was extremely busy with very few empty seats. Although we did not witness any problems like those in Porter, many areas were identified as being potential problem spots of overflowing garbage within a few hours.

Audit Results:

  1. Eating and drinking in both Library locations is common practice. We estimate that at least 90% of our patrons are either drinking, eating, or both.
  2. Primarily, patrons are consuming snack-type foods in the Library. The instances of hot foods/dinners found were minimal.
  3. The majority of patrons dispose of their garbage appropriately. Disposing of garbage in a responsible way becomes problematic when waste receptacles are already full.
  4. There are sufficient numbers of garbage containers in each location but their size can pose a problem. Many of the containers in use are small, office-type ones. During peak exam time when the libraries are heavily used, these types of receptacles fill up very quickly and garbage begins to overflow.
  5. There was no evidence of food or garbage being left in the stacks.
  6. Patrons are trying to recycle; in Davis there seems to be some confusion as to what and where to recycle.

Recommendations:

  1. Explore the possibility of having custodial staff clean on Sunday evenings, in Porter, at least during the 3-week exam period each term. In Davis, add the summer exam period to the existing Sunday cleaning schedule that currently runs from October to the end of April.
    Action: Tom Galloway, Plant Operations has agreed to provide custodial staff to clean in Porter on Sunday evenings during the fall and winter exam periods. He expressed some concern with providing staff to clean during the summer exam period in both Davis and Porter. Mary Stanley will send Tom a list of times and locations that need attention. Also an audit was conducted in Porter on August 8 that revealed similar problems with garbage. As a result, Mary will include in the request to Tom that the summer exam period be covered as well.
  2. Remove all office-type receptacles and replace them with Library-purchased, larger garbage containers.
  3. Involve the custodial staff in our effort to keep the libraries clean. A library staff member in each library should walk around with the lead hand to discuss placement of garbage and recycling containers.
    Action: New garbage containers have been placed in appropriate areas by custodial staff.
  4. Audits, led by Patti Cook, UW's Waste Management Coordinator should be conducted on a regular, ongoing basis including one month after the coffee shop opens, during summer exams, and during spring and fall midterms and exams.
    Action: Patti Cook has agreed to conduct regular audits. Eric Boyd will coordinate dates/times with her.
  5. Design tent cards with the wording, "Have you forgotten something? Please don't leave your garbage behind." These cards could be given to custodial staff to place in areas that are hot spots for garbage. These cards could also be put out just before exam periods.
    Action: Sharon Lamont has arranged for the shelvers to distribute the cards when necessary. Linda Hastings has been asked to design the cards.
  6. All computer areas and the Doris Lewis Rare Book Room should be food and drink free zones. Design and post appropriate signage, using symbols rather than negative language, to alert students of these special areas.
    Action: Linda Hastings is also working on these signs which will be taken to LBPC for approval.
  7. Post new recycling signs, available from Patti Cook, to encourage appropriate recycling.
    Action: Eric Boyd will contact Patti Cook about these new signs.
  8. Remove the No Food in the Library posters in both library locations and the Food and Drink in the Library policy from the web (http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/food.html).
    Action: Removal of the posters has begun. LBPC has approved the removal of the policy from the web.

Mary Stanley, Chair
Food and Drink in the Library Committee
May 26, 2000

Updated: September 14, 2000


Executive Secretary
August 30, 2005