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Case: 0042
Sector: Public libraries
Book thefts a national issue
To what extent are public libraries responsible for managing cultural heritage and educational resources?
Summary: In a developing country book theft from public libraries is a growing problem. Visitors are taking advantage of inadequate security to steal books, some of which are no longer in print. As a result, the country’s cultural heritage, and the resources available to support local education, are being depleted. The extent to which this is a national problem, and moral responsibility, are discussed.
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: Public librarians in a developing country are struggling to prevent books in their collections from being stolen. With inadequate resources to provide proper security, visitors find it relatively easy to remove books from the shelves and walk out of the library with them. Many of those stealing books are school pupils, often from poor families. Theft has become a major problem in some areas such that libraries are losing stock rapidly as they are unable to replace those which are no longer in print. In most cases the possibility of buying new books, if they are still in print, is not an option due to the high cost.
Limited countermeasures are put in place in some libraries to try to prevent theft. These include only allowing books to be consulted in the presence of a librarian, and preventing visitors from bringing bags into the library. Despite these measures, it is still relatively easy to purloin books.
The editors comment...
CILIP’s Ethical Principle which comes to mind when first hearing of this case is number 9 which deals with the ‘… conservation and preservation of our information heritage in all formats.’ Meanwhile, in CILIP’s Code of Professional Practice section B11 states that librarians and information professionals should ‘show an appropriate concern for the future information needs of society through the long term preservation and conservation of materials as required …’.
These may seem to convey the essence of our concern, but it is perhaps easy to overlook the real problems facing such countries with simplistic recommendations that a national government invests more in its protection of a national cultural heritage. Physical protection is just one option attempted in this particular country, though it is acknowledged that this is expensive and also ineffective in areas where educational resources are severely limited and the temptation to steal is high. It is noted also that only a few libraries here can afford photocopying facilities as a way of reducing the temptation to thieve.
Librarians faced with such difficult circumstances are usually doing their best to preserve their collections and arguably can be said to be upholding principles recognisable to members of CILIP. There appears to be no question in this case of the libraries’ directors selling their own stock to improve the financial resources of the library (cf. Case Study 0031). Indeed, the 5-year strategy of the National Library suggests that one of the key reasons for relatively poor security in public (and presumably academic) libraries here is a lack of funding by the national government; librarians do recognise the value of keeping their collections intact.
However, funding to implement security devices or similar may only be part of the solution. We wonder whether more attention should be placed on education and public awareness of the risks of losing not only cultural heritage but irreplaceable educational resources if thefts continue? We do not suggest that this might simply be a solution of focusing attention on educational programmes sponsored by the relevant government ministry; it is a deeper issue which concerns the librarians themselves. In this case it is easy to assume that it is the visitor on whom the responsibility of having to value cultural heritage or educational resource must lie. However, the librarian, at any level of operational responsibility, has a role to play in upholding principles which reflect a wider need to protect a cultural heritage
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Primary |
Secondary |
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Principles |
9 | 3 |
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Code |
B11 | |
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Related cases |
0031 – a case in which a senior librarian responsible for maintaining a unique and historic collection of academic texts decides to sell the collection to fund further library development |
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References:
To recommend resources related to this Case, please contact the editors.
Feedback:
The editors welcome feedback. To comment on the facts of this Case, or to respond to the editorial review, please contact the editors.
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Created: v0.1 25-Nov-07 : JG-T
Revised: v1.0 30-Dec-07 : SS