[Libs-Or] Body Odor Policy

[Kirsten Brodbeck-Kenney]

One might be able to word the fragrance policy along the lines of, "odor
that interferes with other patrons' use of the library" or something
along those lines. That would cover both personal hygiene and overuse of
cologne or perfume. The Free Library of Philadelphia had wording similar
to this in the Standards of Acceptable Behavior when I worked there --
I'm trying to run down the actual wording.
 
I think actually going "fragrance free" in the way that it usually
means -- no perfumed products at all -- would likely be prohibitive in a
public building. I don't think it could be enforced. But odor such that
it causes a nuisance to others might be enforceable. 
 


 
 
Kirsten Brodbeck-Kenney
Library Director
Driftwood Public Library
801 SW Hwy 101, #201
Lincoln City, OR 97367
541-996-1251 (desk)
541-996-1262 (fax)
www.driftwoodlib.org
>>> Buzzy Nielsen <buzzy at hoodriverlibrary.org> 1/5/2015 2:21 PM >>>
We don't have anything regarding fragrances, but we do have a line in
our Code of Conduct about personal hygiene:

"While on library properties, you may not ... Disturb other library
patrons or staff through extremely poor personal hygiene."

Fortunately, I've never had to enforce the policy in Hood River, but
there was one instance at North Bend where we had to eject somebody
because she smelled so much of cat urine that nobody could be around
here, or even use a chair after she'd been in it. Gary and I felt kind
of horrible about having to do it, as these issues often go hand-in-hand
with poverty, but she was really disrupting others' use of the library.

Our full Code of Conduct is here:
http://www.hoodriverlibrary.org/files/policies/Code%20of%20conduct.pdf

It seems like there may be dragons in the "fragrance free zone" thing,
though. Senses of smell are so subjective. It seems like you'd have to
word it in such a way to as to capture AXE guy and not, say, a guy who
wears a type of cologne that some people happen find distasteful.

Cheers!
Buzzy

************************************
Library Director
Hood River County Library District
502 State Street
Hood River, Oregon 97031
541-387-7062
http://hoodriverlibrary.org

On 01/05/2015 02:05 PM, Ted Smith wrote:



Do any of you have a policy I can use that covers 1) horrible (to say
the least) body odor and 2) the library as a fragrance free zone. 
Please don’t tell me we can’t ban/bar/exclude patrons from our libraries
because of excessive body odor (see attached link).  I’m just wondering
if any libraries have policies, or any cities have codified an ordinance
that covers this issue.   

Are any of your libraries fragrance free?  Policies?    

As a side note: I talked to this patron and he “solved” the problem by
dousing himself with AXE cologne.  I have one of the strongest stomachs
known to mankind.  This guy could gag a corpse.  Patrons are
complaining, staff are in a quandary as to how to proceed.  Yes, he has
an apartment with a working shower – I know because I offered to
purchase passes to our rec center so he could shower.  He told me he
didn’t need them.  I’m open to ideas. 

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/mar/05/local/me-smell5


_____________________________________________________
Libs-Or mailing
listLibs-Or at listsmart.osl.state.or.ushttp://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/mailman/listinfo/libs-orHosted
by the Oregon State Library. The Library is not responsible for
content.
Questions related to message content should be directed to list
owner(s) or the sender of the message, by phone or email.
Technical questions? Call 503-378-8800.

If this is an unsolicited spam message, please click this link to
report it: Report Spam
(
http://gwava.lincolncity.org:49285/contents/spamreport.shtml?rptid=198412&srvid=195s08f)

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/libs-or/attachments/20150105/50186cb4/attachment.html>