I'm curious as to whether anyone else has had similar experiences
with people who were actually unaware that it's wrong to deface
library materials.

I know of at least one case here where a student was caught
defacing a scholarly periodical and was then surprised at being
charged $125 for the replacement copy. The irony is the student was
surprised that (a) we'd need to replace a copy of a periodical that
had been defaced and (b) that we charge students when we catch them.

--On Tuesday, October 26, 2004 2:33 PM -0400 SERIALST Moderator
<bmaclenn@UVM.EDU> wrote:

> Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 14:06:11 -0400
> From: "Max Shenk" <MShenk@mc3.edu>
> 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

Christopher Allen Waldrop
Serials Coordinator
Order Services Department
Vanderbilt University Library
Ph: 615-343-3831
Fax: 615-343-8834