LM_NET: Library Media Networking
I installed the 3-M tattle tape system 8 years ago. The first year,
students spent their wits on first putting the books in each others bags so
that the alarm would go off and they could call "thief! thief!" and then
they progressed to vandalizing the books, tearing the strips from the
spines, or splitting the books (I have a collection which can be viewed on
special request) and putting the tapes in each others' clothes or bags and
then going "Thief!,"etc. when the alarm went off. They found the tapes in
the encyclopedias, winked the tapes out, inspite of the super adhesive, and
left them in little curls in the reference area--the books walked, or didn't
and that was how it went. After two years of this, the problems basically
settled down to a manageable level. Sometimes two weeks will go between the
alarm going off and anything going out unauthorized. We lose about 200-300
books a year, as a rough estimate, many of them valuable reference works
which are taken when projects are assigned, and the gate is no deterent when
the hall is crowded and it is impossible to say who just left the library
even if I am quick to get to the gate.
It's not an easy nut to crack--and I have some theories about why vandalism
happens and how it starts--but it sure is depressing, one has to agree.
--
Sr.Mary Veronica,CHS "All that is required for
Xavier High School,NYC the triumph of evil is for
212-924-7900 good men to remain silent
mveronic@llwnet.ll.pbs.org and do nothing."G.MacDonald
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