[aisle] Food in the library?

[Toner, Timothy]

I fought that war and won it.

I work at John Hancock College Prep HS in Chicago, IL.  I had worked at Von
Steuben Metro HS on the north side, and would always find chip bags, opened
milk containers stashed behind shelves, and once, a pile of sunflower seed
shells that were still wet with saliva.

Now Hancock had originally opened as Our Lady of Lourdes, which meant that
everything was 4/5th scale (designed for teenage girls, not teenage boys).
Our lunchroom reflected this. Students would "escape" and hide, which
usually meant hiding their food.  We had a lunch pass system where students
had to retrieve them ahead of time, and once they finished their lunch,
they could come to the library.  Often they smuggled in food. Students
would ask to bring their lunch trays to the library, and I had to say,
"No."  Meanwhile, events would be regularly held in the library by admin
that involved food, so that's a little hypocritical.

Then Chicago Public Schools started "grab and go", where students were
encouraged to grab breakfast in a bag from the cafeteria and go to class.
The moment that happened, I had a revelation. The next time a student asked
if they could bring their lunch, I said, "Sure!"  But! there would be rules:

1. If you wanted to bring your lunch, YOU HAD TO GET A PASS IN ADVANCE.
This is all about "planning ahead", stretching the prefrontal cortex.  As I
explained it to the students, everyone could come to the library, but a
student who is bored in the lunchroom and wants to see what's going on in
the library isn't coming with a good frame of reference.  Students would
show the pass to the security (which made them happy) and surrender it to
me.  I saved them in case someone got "lost" along the way.  If they showed
up at the library with no pass, then they were sent right back. Security
knew to sweep the area every ten minutes or so to catch students who had
been refused but had not made it back to the lunchroom.

I bought an extra garbage can and made sure to use garbage bags that could
handle plastic cutlery.  I purchased two "pickle buckets" from Home Depot
and had students pour their milk in there.  Finally, five minutes before
the bell rang, I walked around with sanitizing wipes and had students
"volunteer" to wipe down the tables.  If they refused (which was rarely), I
pointed out that the price of bringing your lunch to the library was to be
responsible for the space. And since I was the one who passed out the
passes each day, I could choose to not give one to someone who did not
demonstrate that they understood the rules for this space.

The genius idea, the thing that "gamified" it was my decision to get an
eight sided die and put it in a clear tupperware container.  Every Friday,
I would rattle it, walk up to a table, turn to the person at the table who
had volunteered the most, and ask them "left or right"?  They would choose,
I would stop the die rolling, and then COUNT FROM THE MOST RESPONSIBLE
PERSON IN THE DIRECTION THAT PERSON INDICATED.  No matter who it landed on,
that person had to wipe. Because it was chance, they LOVED it.  I almost
never had students walk out without cleaning their tables.

Within a week, I had the  Lunch Manager come charging into the library,
having lost her mind over news that the library had become a second
lunchroom. Having worked food service in college, I knew about how to clean
an environment, and showed her that in many ways my library was a cleaner
space than the cafeteria, mostly because the students were expected to care
for it.  I also showed all the places where students would stash their chip
bags, noting that they were now devoid of trash.  I had created context and
consequence.

Now we're in a new building with a carpeted library, and admin has laid
down the law:  the only place food can be enjoyed is the cafeteria.  I'm
finding chip bags (sigh) and hoping that those are aberrations.

tt

Timothy Toner
Librarian
John Hancock College Prep HS
5437 West 64th Pl
Chicago, IL 60638
773-535-2410
he | him | his
*Omnes mundum facimus*


On Fri, Apr 22, 2022 at 1:01 PM Mariela Siegert via AISLE <
aisle at list.railslibraries.info> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> What are your food policies in the library?
> Really looking at high school, but any information is appreciated.
> Do you have anything written down you can share or any special signage?
> We are fighting a losing battle here with food and we are tired of being
> the food police, so we want some ideas and options.
>
> Thank you!
>
>
>
> *Mariela Martinez Siegert*
> School Librarian, Downers Grove North HS
>
> marris116 at gmail.com
>
> Adjunct Faculty, SOIS at Dominican University
> RCYRBA Board Member | No Flying No Tights Features Editor
> <https://www.instagram.com/marris116/> <https://twitter.com/marris116>
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