How feasible is a publicly accessible shredder in a library?

Question

I've been asked at the reference desk a few times if the library has a shredder for the public to use. This seems like a good idea to me, so I was curious if anyone has already developed best-practices for it - such as:

1. how heavy-duty of a shredder is necessary?
2. is it a free-access shredder in a public area, or staff-mediated behind a desk or in an office?
3. is noise or safety a factor?
4. do patrons need to sign a waiver since they're probably leaving personal/private data behind? (shredded, but still, there's always potential)
5. is there a limit on how much patrons can shred? (since it all becomes waste the library needs to pay to remove)

This seems like a great service to offer patrons in a modern library, but just wanted to do some homework before I requested the money to purchase a shredder.

Answer 1

What our local government does is partner with a records-management company locally, having them bring their huge shredders to locations around the city. Perhaps this might be an option for you as well?

Answer 2

Look at your library's mission statement. Can you justify that a shredder is helping in furthering it? Or would hosting an annual shredding fundraiser a mentioned in other questions be better suited to the goals of your library?

Answer 3

OOP (out of policy). No, we strive to find and provide information, not destruct it.

4.a, is this your information to destroy? Please list all documents to be destructed and prove ownership, bearing in mind that we will retain this documentation for as long as is required by law.

Answer 4

My library does not offer document shredding. However, I've seen libraries and companies (such as local banks) offering shredding days--so not a consistent station, but a periodic, one-day service. Shredding days are typically contracted to company set up to handle onsite, one-time shredding, such as Shred Docs or Shred King.

Disclaimer: I have note used either of these companies and cannot vouch for their services; Shred Docs I found through an article on a library shred day; Shred King by searching for shredding services in my state.

Answer 5

We get this question frequently as well but not often enough to actually offer a shredder to the public. The individuals who ask (usually wanting to get rid of a bank or credit card statement) end up taking their papers with them. I could see this becoming a problem with people bringing all their shredding. We have recycling containers in the library, and a few people took this as an invitation to bring in collections of cans. Partnering with a local shredding company would seem to be a great community service.

Answer 6

On two separate occasions, a local business and a religious organization in my town partnered with commercial document shredding companies to accept papers in exchange for a donation--either monetary or something for the food pantry. Seems to me that could work for the library, too.

Answer 7

Having a shredder available for Patrons is a good idea as long as it is closely supervised. Patrons + Shredders close to Magazines = too much of a temptation. Adding the staff overseeing this might make this idea not as feasible.