Library theft an 'awkward problem'

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Story Published: Jan 13, 2010 at 5:24 PM MDT

Story Updated: Jan 14, 2010 at 12:34 AM MDT

By Steven Pope

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REXBURG - I know it sounds odd, I mean, why steal if it's already free, right? But some people do anyway, for fear of, get this, embarrassment.

"We have several books about sex, impotence, teen pregnancy. There's all kinds of issues that people have in real life situations," said Assistant Library Director Valerie Vail.

"Why aren't people just surfing the web for uncomfortable materials?" I asked.

"The biggest issue is that you have to check your source. Anytime you're on the Internet you're not sure who put that on there. With a book, it's gone through editors and it's gone through a lot of people to make sure these items are true statements," said Vail.

"Do you have a problem with people stealing books from your library?" I asked.

"Books do come back that have not been checked out, it's sad to steal from a library because you have access to a library and everything is free," said Vail.

You could say there's a controversial book on every single shelf. Take for instance the Wicca Handbook. While one person might call it their religion, another person might call it witchcraft.

"We do have controversial books here at the library. Your First Amendment right is to be able to read whatever you like, that's free speech. It is up to you to decide what you will read and what you will not," said Vail.

One of the books making the 2008 most controversial books is Tango Makes Three, a book about two male penguins adopting an egg.

But to prevent books like that from being temporarily borrowed, the library has put radio transmitters on every single book which will flag an alarm at the entrance.

"Each book has it's own unique bar code so each book can be found," said Vail.

I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but if you do have a book that needs to be returned to the library, even if it's just overdue, just do it.

The last thing the library wants to do is buy a new book when they could get the original back for free.

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