Food and Drink Policy

(Revised: September 2, 1998)

We, the staff of the Lister Hill Library, want this to be a place that is comfortable for you.  With the renovation of the building we have more seating, more attractive spaces, and more ways to serve you better.  However, many of you have complained about the prohibition on food and drink in the library.  It puts you in the position of either having to go for long stretches of time without a way to refresh yourselves or ignoring the policy and sneaking things in.  It puts us in the position of having to enforce a policy that is unpopular.  We'd like to try a better way.

Effective immediately, we will allow limited eating and drinking within the library.  We are counting on all of you to help us make sure that the books and the computers remain safe and that the building stays clean.  Therefore, we require the following:

• Use "spill-proof" cups - bottles with screw tops or cups with safety lids
• Keep food and drink away from computer keyboards and the books and journals.  (NOTE:  Food and drink are still NOT ALLOWED in the Computer Classroom, Learning Technologies Area or Reynolds Historical Library.)
• If you accidentally spill something please clean it up and let a staffmember know right away!!  It happens to everybody and we just want to make sure that it gets cleaned up.  Cleaning supplies are stored on every floor:

• 2nd Floor - In the mail room in Collection Management.  (If no staff are in Collection Management or Administration, go to the Circulation Desk.)
• 1st Floor - Circulation area. Located just past the entrance to Circulation.
• Ground Floor - CAS. Located on the top of the first table to the left of the entrance door.

• Make sure that any trash, crumbs, wastepaper, cans, etc., get disposed of in the appropriate trash receptacles.  If you see a mess somewhere that someone else has left behind, help us out by cleaning it up or at least letting a staff member know.
• Don't have food delivered!!  (We want to relax the policy, not get carried away!)
• Encourage your fellow patrons to take care of the library and to treat it responsibly.

We think that this change will make the library a more comfortable, more productive place for you.  It's up to you to make it work.  After all, it's your library.