---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 09:18:15 -0600
From: "Bolton, Karen" <bolton@MSOE.EDU>
Subject: Re: Security for loose journals (Jody Morris)

Hello Jody,
We have about 400 active subscriptions.  We use 3M tattle-tape strips on all
of our journals, and have for about 4 years.  These are long, skinny
magnets, sticky on both sides, that are placed in the gutter.

When our bound volumes come back from the bindery, we run them past our
sensitizing machine, to see if the strip is still magnetized--usually they
are, and we don't have to re-strip the bound volume.

I have never seen any evidence of someone trying to rip out a strip.  We
HAVE seen torn-out barcodes--people think that is where the security device
is.

Two years ago we bought a new security gate for the only public exit.  I
think it works ok, but it is not fail-safe; backpacks dragged low on the
ground or boosted high in the air aren't caught by this system.

We do have several study rooms with windows that open to the outside, and I
have lost periodicals out these windows.  The periodicals room is next to a
big door to the outside, which is used by the facilities folks, who often
will leave it unlocked, and I suspect I have lost some that way too.

It seems that motivated people will always find a way to remove things.  We
have to try to defeat these efforts, and it is worth it to invest in the
technology to help us.

Karen Bolton
Serials Librarian
bolton@msoe.edu

Milwaukee School of Engineering
Walter Schroeder Library
1025 N. Broadway
Milwaukee, WI
53202-3109

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 08:38:06 -0500
From: "Morris, Jody" <Jody.Morris@FEMA.GOV>
Subject: Security for loose journals

I know this topic has come up many times before, but....

I am at a small, specialized library.  We carry about 400 serials and bind
about half that, maybe less.  We have a Checkpoint system that operates on
radio frequency and currently use square tags in the books and on the videos
that set off the alarm.

Currently, we keep all loose, yet-to-be-bound journals locked up, but due to
a renovation that will give us a LOT more room, we are considering keeping
the loose journals available for students to just take them off the shelves.
I am worried about this, and have been asked to find out what other
libraries are doing.

If your library has a similar Checkpoint system and you  tag your loose
journals, could you email me and tell me what you use and how well they
work?  Do students just find them and rip them out?  Also, when you bind the
journals, how do you remove the tags?  Anything else you can tell me would
be helpful.

Thanks!

Jody Morris
National Emergency Training Center Library
FEMA
Emmitsburg, MD

jody.morris@fema.gov
(301) 447-1354