Are you sometimes grossed out when you use the computers in the library labs? Well, you’re not alone! Here’s an excerpt from an email a student sent us during finals time:
“Dear [library administrators]:
“… Do you happen to know whether the maintenance staff cleans the
computer lab keyboards each night? I’ve noticed several times when
I’m here that the keyboards are messy with crumbs or sticky keys or
white dust….”
The answer is that computer keyboards are sensitive equipment. It’s not feasible to have maintenance staff clean them. The only way to keep the keyboards clean is to keep food and drink out of their environment.
NYLS rules prohibit bringing food or drink into the library labs. If everybody honored these rules, then there’d be no more keyboard gross-outs.
Library staff patrol the labs, and work to enforce the rules. But we’re not trained as cops, and we can’t do it all by ourselves. We need your help to solve this problem. Only heightened awareness, and a little bit of peer pressure, are likely to improve this crummy situation.