Library vandalism

Ohio University's Vernon R. Alden Library has been the victim of a
series of book mutilations. Approximately 200 books from various
collections including Southeast Asia, Fine Arts, Childrens, and
Health Sciences,have been discovered with pictures of adolescent
boys methodically knifed out. Similar acts of vandalism have also
been uncovered in the libraries at Ohio State, Youngstown State, and
Bowling Green State Universities, and the University of Akron.

This malicious act both impedes library users' research needs and
professional development, *and* requires a huge investment of
library resources to repair them. *Physical* repairs for Alden
Librarys' 200 books cost more than $2,500. Blind costs such as
administrative staff time and the request and retrieval of
replacement pages were not factored. Of course, when the original
item is damaged beyond repair and the publication is no longer in
print, purchasing a replacement copy is not an option.

Library administrators have been working closely with the
University's Campus Security personnel in an effort to stop this
vandalism and we recently "went public" in the hopes that the
library user will also be on the lookout for any suspicious
behaviour. So far, we have determined that this vandalism is *not*
limited to our collections, but has in fact occurred at other Ohio
institutions. What we are now trying to find out is just how
widespread is this activity. We are therefore posting this message
to ask if other libraries are experiencing (or have recently
experienced) similar acts of vandalism. If so, please respond to me
directly at <smith<-a t->ouvaxa< . >cats< . >ohiou< . >edu>

Thanks very much for your attention to this matter.

Patricia Smith-Hunt
Head, Preservation Department
Vernon R. Alden Library
Ohio University
Athens, OH 45701
614-593-2618

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:29
               Distributed: Thursday, September 25, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-11-29-011
                                  ***