measure what we've lost . . .

Look what I found in Library Journal last night . . .



$75K of Books Stolen at Texas Tech
By Andrew Albanese — October 15, 2006
Texas Tech officials say 22-year-old student assistant Jonathan Nunley ran a profitable side business stealing roughly 1000 library books, valued at around $75,000, and arranging to sell them through an Oregon-based online bookseller. According to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Nunley worked a slow late-night shift with little supervision, which allowed him to pilfer the books. He then mutilated the texts to cover up markings that identified them as library property.
Jim Smith, owner of McKenzie Books in Oregon, told reporters that his suspicion was aroused after Nunley quickly becoming one of McKenzie’s top 30 high-volume sellers. Meanwhile, customers complained that books from Nunleybooks were missing pages, including tables of contents. A part-time book sorter later noticed "Texas Tech University" on one of the books. Texas Tech library spokesman Jeff Whitley said that officials believe Nunley was not a student but "someone with a criminal record who posed as a student in order to steal." Texas Tech officials said they were revising their policies on supervision of student workers and would consider new video surveillance for the circulation department.


It crossed my mind while I was there that you could make a lot of money selling library books . . . Some of those books are really old and valuable.
But how sad! I hate to think of someone taking 1000 books out of that library!