As an experiment, Brooklyn Law School Library began to offer earplugs to students during the school’s Reading and Examination Period. Each term the Library orders enough earplugs so that each student can have one pair throughout the Reading and Examination Period.
An earplug is a device that is meant to be inserted in the ear canal to protect the wearer’s ears from loud noises or the intrusion of water, foreign bodies, dust or excessive wind. The first recorded use of wax earplugs is in the Odyssey, wherein Odysseus’s crew used wax earplugs to avoid being distracted by the Sirens’ songs. Current earplug material was invented in 1967, at National Research in the USA, by Ross Gardner and his team. As part of a project on sealing joints, they developed a resin with energy absorption properties.
Brooklyn Law School Library earplugs were such a hit during the Fall 2010 Reading and Examination Period that by the second week of exams, there were no more earplugs. This may be because our users did not recycle their earplugs. Based on student demand, the Library has rush ordered another 1200 earplugs which will be available on Thursday, December 16th.
The Brooklyn Law School Library listening to its users. Due the abuse of this practice (students not recycling their earplugs), the Library is reevaluating the free and open access earplug give away.
