Thanks so much to everyone for their responses to my question about
book theft. The responses follow, with most people encouraging me to
get the books out of reserve and out on the shelves.
Joanna Arkans
I am at a high school library as well and I don’t see a huge problem
with theft. Some new books do go missing every year. But it is about
one or two out of hundreds of new books that we get. Like you, I
think that I would get those books out from behind the desk. We do
have a security gate that prevents some theft, but I think that being
watchful and involved with the kids that come into the library is the
best deterrent there is.
This may or may not address your inquiry, but I have some comments about
what I call
"books that grow legs." We are very small, and do not have a security
system in place.
Our "lost" book numbers are fairly small, as well. However, I do keep a
few extra copies in
my office of books such as Clockwork Orange and anything about Cobain or
Tupac.
The ones on the circ shelves seem to "walk away" every year or so, so
these are "reserve" copies.
There were many more "office copies" when I arrived here nine years ago,
but, like you, I moved
most to circ., without too much negative impact. Oddly, I'd rather
someone be reading the books, officially or otherwise, rather than
decorating the shelves with them.
Ask to see, or find the end of year inventory. How many books were
unmarked and had to be moved to lost?
It fluctuates each year, so if you can find 3 years worth it will
give you a better picture.
My rule of thumb for a non-secure facility is 100 books a year
disappear. One year went almost to 200 and this year we were down in
the 50's.
I have been at a Jr/Sr High School Library for six years. For us it
is more expensive to have a security system than it is to replace
stolen books. The books I moved behind the circ desk are: old year
books, and the Guinness Book of World Records. If I bought the World
Record's book in paperback I wouldn't worry about it being stolen.
Every year the book did get stolen. The year books were getting
written in, and cut, so being behind the desk is working. The
students still look at them, and the vandalising has stopped. I have
just as many problems getting books returned as I do stolen books.
While I am a middle school librarian, not high school, I still have
to say "PUT THEM OUT" !!! Many students will NOT ask you for a book
that is "off limits" behind your desk, but will gravitate to them if
displayed. You will always lose some books during the year, whether
they simply walk or a student claims they returned the book, etc.
Access to materials is extremely important and just because the
former person did things one way, doesn't mean you need to.
Especially if you disagree with her choice.
It's hard to say. You might want to put in a month or so and see what
the climate is actually like before you make a decision. It could be
that she is over-reacting, maybe these are the first new books she
had gotten in years or she was appalled at their price. It could also
be that theft is a real problem. The last high school I was at didn't
have a security system and kids would rountinely take even things
like volumes of the encyclopedia and I might or might not get them
back. You might want to be guided most though by if there is a good
dynamic in place to use them. I work at a college library now and the
kids have no problem coming up to get things on reserve and I don't
really think high school kids would either once a system was in
place, if they are truly reference type books. If they aren't used
though, it's like they aren't there anyway.
However, if the students and teachers aren't used to having good,
current information available there will be a lag before you get them
to use it, no matter where the books are shelved. So bare that in
mind when making a judgment about whether they are being used.
I do have a security system at my high school, but I have lots of
theft anyway. The kids know to rip out the detection tags. There
are many times I will go to find somethign that is supposed to be in
according to the OPAC but isn't there.
Who knows if this librarian really does experience theft that
warrants this. It could be real or imagined. It could also be there
was a group of kids that were stealing, but that could have been
years ago. The good thing with kids is that they do grow up, and
they are only here for 4 years max. So, whatever they do will stop in
4 years unless someone else starts in on it. The theft may have been
"real" 5 years ago and isn't a threat anymore.
I would recommend putting the books out on the shelves and see how it
goes. If they start to disappear, then you will know. Or, try an
experiment and put out, say, half. Put them out there and keep a
periodic check on them. My library used to have the same thing,
which I got rid of. They were some frequently stolen or destroyed
books. I put them out of the floor. I figured if they disappeared,
oh well. I would tell the next kid that they could thank their
fellow students for stealing. Incidentally, I don't think any of
those books have been stolen in the intervening 7 or so years since I
put them on the shelves.
If it is possible for you to conduct an inventory before school opens,
this will give you a starting point to find out just how bad the theft
problem is. At the very least, if you put out the reserve books, you
could track those books and see how they fare. What I have seen in many
different libraries is that the disappearance rate usually runs around 3
percent for libraries without monitoring systems. It is around 1/2 of 1
percent for libraries with electronic monitoring. But, you will need
documentation to justify an expensive monitoring system or some sort of
different control on the collection. So, start with an inventory (of
small or large collection) and see what happens. If you see large
numbers of books disappear (5-10% range) You have a strong case for some
kind of system. That system could pay for itself within the first year,
if you are losing large numbers. If you are only losing a few books,
however, the exposure of the new materials and the ease of use for the
user may justify the risk.
I'm in a junior high of about 1,000 students. We have no security AND
we have three doors. Thus, there is the potential for theft. And yes,
we do have losses. BUT, I believe that karma takes care of that: if
you think about it all the time, keep materials 'sacred' and limit
use, then the potential for theft and mischief is higher. I put all
books on the floor and kids can check out anything. reference goes
out for 1-2 days depending on what it is, videos - which I do keep
behind the counter but are in view so kids can see what's available -
go out for a week. The more access kids have, the less likelihood
they'll steal- why do it? We work hard to keep an eye on the kids and
do our best. This year we did have two girls [twins] who tried to
walk out with books but we caught them at the door. They had had so
many books overdue and such high fines that we had limited their
checkouts. So I guess they thought that they needed to take them
without benefit of checking it out. The crazy thing was - I always
let them check things out, just kept a tighter hold on when they
needed to return them or check in with me to prove that they still
had them. I don't know that there's an answer to theft, it'll always
happen. Still, I'd rather know that the books are out there than
worry about them. Yes, we have very limited budgets, but I believe
that if your policy is open and accessible, then the theft will be
minimized.
I work in a small, urban high school. I will be interested to hear
what others have to say about this so I hope you will post a hit. In
my school we have a certain amount of theft, sometimes worse than
others. Many times it is small items. For example, I had my librarian
action figure sitting on the circulation desk and it went missing. I
have had some popular books such as Akira anime books come up
missing. More often I have a problem with books being checked out and
not returned. We have a library security system, but it has never
been hooked up in the five years I have been on this job. I am told
that it was too sensitive, going off at random times for no apparent
reason and also, the kids would just tear the security stickers out
of the books. I have arrived at the philosophy that theft is just a
part of doing business. I do everything I can to prevent it, but I am
not going to purchase books only to leave them behind the desk for
fear that they will be stolen. There are too many good kids who will
use them appropriately, and it would be a disservice to them.
I do have a few "high theft" items that I keep on display behind the
circulation desk-some of our graphic novels, Tupac's book Rose that
Grew from Concrete, etc. Kids can still readily see that we have
them, and they get checked out constantly.
We do not have a security system, but are seriously considering it.
If kids simply took books without checking out and we eventually got
them back anyway, it wouldn't be such a big issue. But, we have many
books that we hever see again.
Congratulations on your job! I, personally, would leave those books
on reserve for the time being. After you are there for a little while
and get to know your clientel better, then I would make the decision.
There are certain books that seem to appeal to some people - are
borrowed and never seen again. Sometimes it is better to be a little
over protective with certain books so all can enjoy them.
I ran into the same thing when I changed jobs three years ago--but
this librarian had everything nonfiction that she'd purchased in the
last three years back there--the kids had no way of knowing that the
books were even available.
I put them out on the shelves--I also pared down the reference
section to just encyclopedias, dictionaries, and atlases too. I
figured that it would be much easier if everything about a subject
was in one place. I'm the only one in the library in a school with
over 850 high school students and it sure makes it much easier that
way--it enables me to help many more students if I can just point and
say all the information about xxxxx is in the 350s.
Now about theft--yes, I have lost books to theft. I have no security
system and the only lab in the school is a part of the library. The
teachers who bring students in don't want to be responsible for
watching the kids and that's where I'm losing books because they keep
letting kids bring in their books with them and it's just too easy to
slip in a library book between their other books. Now for the good
news--I usually get most of the books back at the end of the year
when they're left in the halls when the kids clean out their lockers.
My thoughts are either get a security system or write off the losses,
but never put the books back behind the desk or in the reference
section where they're strung all over the place.
I was going to suggest maybe putting the books in a display case for
awhile, where they would be visible and allow check out when anyone
requested it out of the case.
I also have a shelved book cart that my students decorate to display
new books and this is very popular. When I have classes or want it
out of temptation's way - I just roll it behind the desk where it is
still visible, but not so accessible.
Eventually the books get intershelved. I still hate to lose my
bestsellers - but, my principal says he's happy somebody is reading
them!!
I have a small amount of theft at my middle school. (Less than 15
books/year
from a collection of 7000 with 900 students) The only way you'll know
for
sure is by putting out the books and then doing an inventory at the
end of
the year to see what you have. I'd give it a couple of years, too,
just to
get an idea of the trends because books that disappear sometimes show
up a
year or two later. Oh, and by the way, it's not always the kids who have
them!
It seems like a terrible waste to keep that many books behind the
reserve
desk. If high school kids are anything like middle school, that extra
step
of asking for them behind the desk will be enough to kill a large
part of
the demand.
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