Re: Stolen books, answer security sy

[Betty Dawn Hamilton <bhamilt@TENET.EDU>]

On Sun, 15 Jan 1995, Joyce Conklin wrote:

> I think a security system is really helpful. Somehow the students bent on
> *intentionally* removing books seem to think that removing the bar code
> will defeat the security system, and the first time we caught someone it
> was a good lesson for all in the class.

> assignment purposely destroyed (pages torn out, etc.) -- these titles are
> about drugs, so I don't know if there's a connection there or just plain
> nasty kids, but I sure do get irritated (to put it mildly!)

Joyce and the group,

I'm sure we all see this happening.  When I unpack a new shipment, I can
tell exactly which books will be gone at the end of the first week they are
out! Students who steal books want the brand new ones, the colorful ones
about drugs, snakes, UFOs or strange phenomena.  Oh yes, they also want dog
books.  Because students in 9th grade still like to research those topics
(older students have more focused assignments), I order many and we have only
a few on the shelf!

I'll be glad when we are fully barcoded and on computer completely so I
can prove with a print-out how expensive losing that many books has
become.  Someone on this list said their theft went from 300 books per
year down to about 25 when they installed a security system.  If books
cost an average of $20 each, $6000 per year should convince someone!!!

Betty
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