Hey all, I'm seeking some advice on this lovely Monday afternoon. We've been having a recurring issue with a patron damaging new items. The items are returned with a very intense odor, staining, general discoloration, and even small debris on the exterior of the book or in between the pages. We have very strong reason to believe that the staining and odor is from animal urine. My first instinct is to simply discard the items, since they were all kept together in what appears to be a urine-stained bag with a very similar odor. While some books are in better condition than others upon return, we have some concerns about putting any of them back into the collection. While we have the means to remedy odor, we simply don't have a good way to sanitize them. That said, I'm not sure what the best practice is here and I hate to lose so many new titles at once. Does anyone have experience with this? What are your related policies? Any advice would be most welcome! Thanks in advance, Maria Halvorsen (She/Her) Fraser Public Library _Cataloging and Reference Librarian_ (586) 293-2055
