Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 2, 1991 TAG: 9103010463
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
"That one we cannot keep," library director Melinda Zalecki said of the Appalachian folk tales collection. The library has replaced that book 15 times in the past 10 years.
Car repair manuals, aids for General Educational Development tests and books on witchcraft are some of the other volumes that have tended to disappear from library shelves in Pulaski County.
So are books on genealogy, collectibles such as coins and baseball cards, and pregnancy or child care.
"One book that we used to lose constantly was our PDR [Physician's Desk Reference]," Zalecki said. Another has been "Joy of Sex" and its sequel, "More Joy of Sex," she said. "That's one that's on overdues and always is."
Interestingly, it is non-fiction books that are swiped most often. Fiction may be overdue, but seldom stolen, except for occasional books by extra-popular authors such as Stephen King.
"Sometimes we have to replace them, or replace them with paperback copies," Zalecki said.
Those days may be coming to an end. The library in Pulaski and the Charles and Ona B. Free branch library at Dublin have installed a security system at a cost of about $25,000.
That sounds expensive, but if it can reduce the loss of library books it may pay for itself pretty fast. The estimated replacement value of lost books so far: $17,852.
All libraries have some theft problems, but few have that many.
Some of the more frustrating book thefts are from the juvenile section, where losses total $11,307. Among the missing is one volume of a set of encyclopedias.
Other books in the juvenile library on trees, whales, the state of Virginia and black history will frequently turn up missing, especially if one of those subjects is assigned to a school class for research and there is a long list of students waiting to check them out.
The new security system involves gate-like structures at the library entrances that beep if anyone tries to carry books or other library items out without checking them out.
Several systems were examined before this one was purchased.
"None of them are foolproof," Zalecki said, "and they're all, I think, a tad bit awkward."
But any reduction in the number of missing books will help save money. That is particularly important now, with cutbacks in state funds due to revenue shortfalls.
Most of the state money went toward buying new library materials. Between $5,000 and $6,000 was cut from the library's book-buying budget right in the middle of this fiscal year.
The shortage of money to buy books also comes at a time when the county library is trying to build the collection at its Dublin branch, which opened less than a year ago.
Even when books are checked out properly, they are not always returned. The library has tried several remedies for that: amnesty periods when people can return overdue books without fines; notification by mail, followed up by certified letters; and even taking some delinquent book borrowers to court.
One of the most successful approaches was last year's two-month food-for-fines offer, where people could bring canned goods - which were given to Pulaski's Daily Bread free lunch program - instead of paying their fines.
The strange thing, Zalecki said, was that the cost of the canned goods brought in usually exceeded what the fines would have been.
But it brought in plenty of canned food.
"Oh yeah, we got a lot," Zalecki said. The Daily Bread meals program benefited. "Sometimes I think we ought to do it all year round."
by CNB