Literary thieves

There seems to be no practical safeguard against the loss of books and periodicals from libraries which are open to the public, or even where the visitors are carefully restricted as, for instance, in a club library. In one prominent club in New York a list is posted of twelve different magazines permanently “borrowed” during one month. The loss of periodicals, or modern books is not usually regarded as serious, but even these cannot always be replaced. A copy of London Engineering, dated November 27, 1907, has been stolen from each of the files of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, both located in the Engineers Library. This particular issues out of print, and efforts to replace the stolen copies have been futile. Copies of each of two recently published engineers´ handbooks have been stolen from the same library. Public libraries throughout the country in many cases lose over 1000 volumes annually. A theory exists that it is better to lose a small percentage of books than place objectionable restrictions upon their accessibility. It is an exceedingly difficult matter to guard against this evil practice, as proof of guilt is not readily obtainable.