Grizabella
Please stop thinking of the Querents as germ-laden, drooling, wide-eyed Village Idiots. If - however - that IS what they turn out to be - have a germ-laden, drooled on, wide-eyed deck for their use. NO laws say you have to use your signed, one-of-a-kind deck you purchased for $5,000 off eBay to read for the public.
Yes ~ I am a firm believer that the Querent is an active part of their reading and should always handle the cards ... but they DO NOT have to be MY cards.
I usually shuffle because people who have shuffled cards before often have this habit that they think is a skill, I suppose---they bridge the cards after each shuffle! I hate that! But other than that, I like the sitters to handle the cards. I don't see sitters as EWWWW!!! --- radioactive little bundles of negative energy. I see them as people coming to me for insight, understanding and guidance, or maybe for a fun thing to tell their spouse about when they get home---or whatever else. Whatever you fear, you give power to. I like to keep my power and choose not see the world as a dangerous place to be, although it can be that and heaven knows I've experienced it in my life.
I like sitters to choose their own cards from a fan. I'm also doing some experimenting with having my sitters for online readings who use the cards themselves choose cards from their own fanned deck, then tell me the cards they drew from a deck we both have in common so I can read the same cards out of my own deck. I've noticed that when I visit the Your Readings sub-forum, I can read the cards more easily and I think that's because of the energy the sitter infuses the deck with. That sounds awkward, but maybe you know what I mean.