I had a patron return a stack of newspapers with a x-acto knife in his
hand.  When I asked him if he was cutting things out of the paper he
said "It's O.K. I'm only taking a comic."  He had no clue he was doing
anything wrong.

Patricia Bennett
Magazine & Newspaper Desk Supervisor
Arlington Heights Memorial Library
500 N. Dunton A.H. IL 60004
Phone 847-870-3667
FAX 847-506-2650

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Christopher Allen Waldrop
Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 3:39 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Policy on dealing with defaced serials at
academic libraries?

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