The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), passed by Congress last August and due to be enforced beginning February 10th, is designed to protect children from exposure to products containing unsafe levels of lead or phthalate.  All well and good.  There has been some controversy regarding the application of the law to resale shops and such, but there now seems to be the potential for this to impact libraries in a big way.

Apparently the General Counsel of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has ruled that the law applies to public, school, academic, and museum libraries.  This means that all products designed for children under 12 years of age (think children’s books) would need to be tested or removed, or children under the age of 12 would need to be barred from visiting the library.

The American Library Association’s district office in Washington D.C. has issued a District Dispatch summarizing the issue, and they have also released a letter sent to congressional members last month requesting an exemption from the law, including a link to research done by the publishing community on the potential for exposure to these chemicals through books (which was rejected by the CPSC General Counsel).

thanks to Sia Stewart for her Facebook posting of the dispatch!

—- 10 minutes later —-

The CPSC posted a clarification yesterday that suggests that libraries might not qualify… they don’t mention libraries, and their General Counsel previously said that it does apply, but what they state does suggest an exemption.

(didn’t see this until after posting)

WebWISER is an online access point for WISER, which stands for Wireless Information Sytem for Emergency Responders.  This database of information on hazardous materials is maintained by the National Library of Medicine, and can be used to both find information on known materials, as well as to assist in identifying unknown materials.

WISER is designed to provide Emergency Responders, such as Police, Fire, and Medical personnel, quick information about a wide range of chemicals and their dangers.  Mobile phones, pdas, computers, and the internet can all be used to access the database.

Not only is WISER in its various flavors a great site for reference questions, it should be a part of any organization’s disaster plan, and people should be prepared so they can access it whenever the need arises.  A tutorial is also available.

found via ResourceShelf

You don’t need to be searching for toxic substances (I tried a search for Aloe and got some interesting results) when using the National Library of Medicine’s Toxnet, but if you need to find info and articles on chemicals and such, this would be a good place to search.
from ResourceShelf