Dear Max,

Your message made me laugh out loud...until I got to the section where
you describe the scissors-wielding professor as 'bald' alongside a
number of negative characteristics.  While he was wrong to help himself
to the newspaper, baldness had nothing to do it.   Please don't lambaste
the guy for a physical characteristic that he can't control.

If you haven't heard it, folk singer Christine Lavin has written an ode
to hair-challenged men everywhere.

Sincerely,

Jennifer

Jennifer van Sickle
Serials Librarian/Sciences Coordinator
Trinity College Library
300 Summit St.
Hartford, CT USA 06106

phone: 860-297-2250
fax: 860-297-2251
jennifer.vansickle@trincoll.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:] On
Behalf Of SERIALST Moderator
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 2:33 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Policy on dealing with defaced serials at
academic libraries?

Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 14:06:11 -0400
From: "Max Shenk" < >
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