[Publib] Nuke the books!

[Rob Amend]

The trend hasn't reached Ohio yet. Our patrons have only worked up to gas
ovens.

Rob Amend
Reference Librarian
rob.amend at gmail.com
blog.reftechrob.com


On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 3:35 PM, J B Schallan <jschallan at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Publibbers,
>
> I received this note from one of our circulation staff yesterday:
>
> A first for me at the Library…
>
> Today a lady came in with a book she was returning that had the plastic
> jacket
> cover literally melted with holes over the paper; she wanted to explain
> what
> happened to it for me and see what we could do.
>
> “We put it in the microwave and my boyfriend forgot to take the jacket off
> and
> put a cup of water in there with it, so it melted the plastic on the
> jacket. I’m
> so sorry.”
>
>  “You what?” I replied, trying not to sound too surprised.
>
> “Put it in the microwave.”
>
> Never hearing the words books and microwave in the same sentence
> before, I asked again, “Could you explain that to me?”
>
> “You know, we put our library books in the microwave when we get them home,
> in
> order to kill the germs. You’ve never heard of that?  We do it all the time
> in
> California.”
>
> Well, having heard the phrase “plenty of nuts and fruits in California,” I
> was
> definitely starting to believe it!  When I send books to mending that are
> falling apart at the spine, or pages separating, I’ve many times blamed it
> on
> our Arizona heat and people leaving items in their hot cars and the effect
> heat
> has on the glue and binding of a book. Never have I imagined them placed in
> a
> microwave!  This was a first for me.
>
> I kindly thanked the customer for her honesty and forthrightness to
> take care of
> the issue and explained that for $2 we could replace the plastic jacket on
> the
> outside of the cover and it would be good for the next person.  She
> followed
> through, apologizing again, and hurried to do her next errand. I’m left
> wondering, how many other people microwave their library books?
>
> - - - - - - -
>
> Well, like our circ staffer, I too am wondering how many patrons nuke
> our books to kill germs. And I am hoping that this particular
> technique is NOT applied to our media, as I just have this feeling
> that repeated microwaving probably isn't too good for DVD and CD
> discs.  Not to mention the RFID tags in all our materials and the
> metallic 3M security strips.
>
> We all know that significant trends start in California and work their
> way eastward. Here in metro Phoenix we usually get the first wave of
> whatever nuttiness is emanating from the Golden State, as well as
> refugee Californians themselves. Our patron, apparently a new arrival,
> was astonished that we had not heard of the routine (to her) practice
> of microwaving one's library books to kill germs: We all nuke our
> library books in California.
>
> I can see that I need to do some serious googling. How does
> microwaving affect book paper and glue?  And RFID tags. (It must
> energize the metallic loop in the device and do . . . what?. . . to
> the chip.)
>
> Also . . . is there a microbiologist in the house?  Since microwaving
> works by agitating water molecules in foodstuffs -- which action
> produces heat -- does nuking actually "kill germs" or merely rough
> them up a bit and just p**s them off?
>
> Our circ staffer reports than other than a melted book jacket cover
> and singed jacket, the book and its binding seem to have survived, as
> did the book's RFID tag, which still responds when polled.
>
> It was a Robin Cook medical thriller, btw, which seems strangely
> appropriate.
>
> And from what our patron said, apparently taking the Demco jacket
> cover off and putting the book in the oven with a cup of water --
> steps her boyfriend omitted -- are key to harmlessly (to her) nuking a
> library book.
>
> (Presumably she wipes down the removed jacket cover to sanitize it,
> since it isn't supposed to go into the oven with the rest of the
> book.)
>
> Comments?
>
> --Joe Schallan
>  Phoenix
>
>
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