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Case: 0027

Sector: Public libraries

Vigilance in the library

To what extent is theft from a library the responsibility of library managers?

Summary: A public librarian is caught stealing valuable books from a closed collection at a major city public library. The librarian, a long-time and trusted employee, had taken several thousand pounds worth of rare books over a period of several years. Senior managers responsible for the library claimed that it was impossible to prevent theft; they acknowledged the management responsibility but not the moral imperative to protect the library's stock.

NOTE: This Case Study is fictitious. It is informed by experience in the information world, but it does not claim to represent a scenario of actual events or relate to individual people or organisations.

Case Study: A long-time and trusted public librarian managed to smuggle several thousand pounds worth of rare books out of a major city public library. He was caught only after a dealer in antique books came across the sale of several unusual items on the online auction site eBay and reported the discovery to the police. An investigation discovered that the librarian had been stealing the books for several years. Unfortunately, the managers of the library had not spotted the loss of these books for a long time, and no-one would have suspected the trusted librarian with such a theft. This case study questions the ethical responsibility of library managers (and indeed of librarians themselves) to protect a library's stock which, in many cases, represents an important part of a nation's heritage.

	Primary	Secondary
Principles	11	7
Code	A2	A1 – B7 - C5 – E1
Related cases	-

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