Re: Policy on dealing with defaced serials at academic libraries? Christopher Allen Waldrop 28 Oct 2004 20:38 UTC
I'm curious as to whether anyone else has had similar experiences with people who were actually unaware that it's wrong to deface library materials. I know of at least one case here where a student was caught defacing a scholarly periodical and was then surprised at being charged $125 for the replacement copy. The irony is the student was surprised that (a) we'd need to replace a copy of a periodical that had been defaced and (b) that we charge students when we catch them. --On Tuesday, October 26, 2004 2:33 PM -0400 SERIALST Moderator <bmaclenn@UVM.EDU> wrote: > Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 14:06:11 -0400 > From: "Max Shenk" <MShenk@mc3.edu> > Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Policy on dealing with defaced serials at > academic libraries? > > > We have several titles on reserve at the circ desk... > students-staff-residents can use them in the library. We post a > note in the title's space on the shelves stating that the item is > on reserve. > > I've also posted signs around the area with an excerpt from the > Pennsylvania penal code regarding penalties for damaging library > materials, and our director has enforced this on at least one > occasion I'm aware of, probably more. > > Amazingly, the most egregious violation of the "do not steal or > mutilate our periodicals" policy, and the one which prompted me > to post the PENNSYLVANIA STATUTE signs, was when my assistant and > I caught A FACULTY MEMBER clipping coupons from copies of one of > our newspapers!! The newspaper was running a contest and he'd > gone through and clipped the entry form from the past 2+ weeks > worth of papers...every copy of this title had a neat square > cutout on the back of the 'a" section. It's not like he was > sneaking it off and doing it surreptitiously; he was sitting in > our lounge area, less than ten steps away from our periodicals > desk, cutting it out like it was his paper! > > This was not some adjunct professor just out of an MFA program; > this was a tenured faculty member who's been on at the college as > long as anyone can remember. When we confronted him with it, the > exchange went something like this: > > Us: Is that your paper or the library's? > Him: The library's. > Us: You mean you're cutting up our newspaper? > Him: There's nothing on the back of it. > > It still makes me angry, and I feel tempted to reveal name of the > bald ignorant vandalizing selfish %&*#~@!! here on this list, > but I'll refrain. > > Besides --ha ha!-- he didn't win the contest! > > Max Shenk > Periodicals Assistant > Montgomery County Community College Library > Blue Bell, PA > > >>>> cwilson@MMM.EDU 10/22/2004 9:59:23 AM >>> > Dear serialists: > Here's a nice discussion topic for a Friday... I am wondering if > any of you have a policy on how to deal with patrons who deface > or damage serials, particularly those of a politically sensitive > nature. It was just brought to my attention that someone found a > copy of the Advocate in our library with the word 'nasty' > scribbled on the cover. I have also previously noticed copies of > Ms., Rolling Stone, etc. with missing pages or photos. It's > obviously difficult to punish patrons who deface materials unless > you catch them in the act, so what are our options? Some > libraries(especially public) may put popular or readily-vandalized > magazines behind the desk, but this brings up censorship issues. > Any ideas? > > Thanks in advance for your input, > > Kunchog Dolma > > ~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~ > > Kunchog J. Dolma, MA, MLISc > Serials/Reference Librarian > Thomas J. Shanahan Library > Marymount Manhattan College > 221 E. 71st St. > New York, NY 10025 > (212)774-4807 Christopher Allen Waldrop Serials Coordinator Order Services Department Vanderbilt University Library Ph: 615-343-3831 Fax: 615-343-8834