U.S. libraries checking out book theft / 'Most-stolen' list will help curb crime
Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, May 15, 2001
In Salt Lake City, Carson City, Nev., and Jacksonville, Fla., copies of the Bible tend to walk out of public libraries and never return. Never mind that "Thou Shalt Not Steal" stuff.
In Fremont, it's exam-preparation books to become a police officer. "Gives one pause," a librarian in that East Bay city said.
In Benicia, books about "the occult, car repair and sexuality" disappear regularly, while in Oakland, it's anything about how to grow pot at home, pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases.
The theft of books, CDs, videotapes and pamphlets from public libraries is a national problem, one that probably costs taxpayers millions of dollars a year. No one knows the size of the problem, but the American Library Association has taken a first step, e-mailing hundreds of libraries around the country and asking them to list their most-stolen items.
"We're looking for common reasons why certain items are overdue or stolen," said Larra Clark, the library association official who first undertook the survey at the behest of "On the Media," a weekly National Public Radio show. Since then, stories have rolled in.
The anecdotal responses, from libraries big and small, urban and rural, paint a picture of a nation where book thieves have more than just larceny on their minds.
Almost everywhere, librarians reported that the No. 1 stolen item is books dealing with the occult, satanism, witchcraft or astrology. Books on gay and lesbian issues also vanish. Another constant is exam-prep books, mostly for the high school diploma equivalency test.
Books about witchcraft may disappear because self-styled censors are stealing them to keep them out of others' hands. "We are a tiny library in eastern Oklahoma and our most often stolen materials pertain to witchcraft. It is my belief that these books are taken by those who want to censor the materials, not by those who want to study them," wrote a public librarian from Wister, Okla.
Another librarian, from Las Vegas, wrote that books with homosexual themes, along with those about witchcraft, "are simply taken out of the library."
"I can't remember the specifics, but I know this method has been used, particularly for children's books that deal with gay issues."
Textbooks dealing with abortion face a similar problem, a librarian from the University of California at Davis Medical Center Library in Sacramento wrote in. "At medical libraries, the books in obstetrics/gynecology that cover abortions are often stolen by pro-lifers.
"They use the photos for their protests and keeping the books out of medical students' hands is part of their strategy," the librarian added.
Another reason such books may be stolen, along with items like "The Joy of Sex" or books about conditions such as attention-deficit disorder is that people are just too embarrassed to march up to the checkout desk with them in hand.
"The most likely books to 'grow legs' in our library are anything on attention-deficit disorder, sexual abuse, physical abuse -- things that people are ashamed of needing info on," wrote a librarian from Old Orchard Beach, Maine.
Another reason that books about the occult, car repair, tests or sex disappear might be that people are really studying them. "What do these subjects have in common? They all require extensive practice at home, and it takes longer than the four-week checkout period to get good at it," wrote the Benicia librarian.
Trying to thwart thieves, some libraries have resorted to keeping their most-frequently stolen items on staff-only shelves, which forces people to check them out.
At San Francisco's Main Library, where videos, CDs and computer books are the hot items to steal, spokeswoman Marcia Schneider said that for years librarians have tried to surmise why books about witchcraft are stolen so often. "I don't know what it is about the psyche of these books or their readers that leads to the thefts," she added.
Like other cities, San Francisco doesn't know how many items have been stolen. The city does know that every year about 25,000 items are checked out but not returned.
The library system proposed doing what many other cities have done -- hiring a collection agency to go after long-overdue materials, but the Board of Supervisors shot it down. The board told library staff to try a gentler approach first.
In keeping with that, the system will have its second amnesty in three years, waiving fines on materials returned from June 1 to June 15.
Of course, there is always an amnesty on stolen items.
"Please bring it back," Schneider said. "You won't pay a fine since we didn't know you had it in the first place."
STOLEN FROM THE SHELVES
Among the most frequently stolen items from libraries around the country, according to an American Library Association survey are:
San Francisco's Bayview branch -- books on tattoos.
San Carlos -- how-to divorce books.
Exploratorium (San Francisco) -- The video, "Watch Mr. Wizard: Heat Transfer Tricks/Six Ways to Make Electricity."
Fairport Harbor, Ohio -- Pink Floyd tapes.
Kansas City, Kan. -- "Steal This Book" by Abbie Hoffman.
Johnson County, Kan. -- Pictures in "The Joys of Sex."
Santa Ana -- Test prep books, "Sex" by Madonna, and anything about Jim Morrison and The Doors. Source: American Library Association