ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, March 26, 1997              TAG: 9703260050
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: ALICE ANN LOVE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NATION'S LIBRARY TOO EASY TO ROB AFTER 10 YEARS, TOURISTS WILL BE ALLOWED BACK

The Library of Congress has acted to fight the thievery. But it is difficult to secure because it is a public building.

Despite spending more than $12 million and hiring a new security chief, the Library of Congress recently got a fresh reminder of what it's up against trying to guard its priceless collection.

An antique book dealer in Boston called to say someone had tried to sell him a literary collection that appeared to be handpicked from the library's shelves. The FBI questioned a library employee, then turned the case over to federal prosecutors.

Such risks will only increase this May, when the nation's library reopens its 100-year-old Jefferson Building to tourists after a decade of renovations during which only researchers had access.

Kenneth Lopez, who became the first director of security a month after the Boston incident, knows how to mount a guard. A former Army intelligence officer, he has tightened security for NASA space shuttle launches and the offices of the State Department and the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Keeping the Library of Congress safe is another story.

``The biggest challenge here is trying to strike a balance between public access to these buildings - because it is a public library - and the need for protection,'' Lopez said.

The Library of Congress, housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill, holds 17 million books, 48 million original manuscripts, 4.4 million maps, 2.3 million tapes, records and audio discs and 13.7 million photographs, films, prints and drawings.

In 1992, library counters found $1.8 million worth of damage to the oversized illustrated books known as folios. No one can say when during the library's 178-year history they were mutilated.

Also in 1992, three men - a doctor, a government lawyer and a book dealer - were convicted of stealing from the library.

Congressional and public outrage forced Librarian of Congress James Billington to close the stacks - even to professionals who do research for Congress, and all but a tenth of the library staff, who now fetch books for others' use in supervised reading rooms.

Since then, security has been further tightened.

The stacks will remain closed when the Jefferson Building reading rooms open to tourists.

Visitors' bags are inspected, and personal items must be left in lockers outside reading rooms. Police patrols of the library's 530 miles of shelves have increased. New cameras record most happenings.

And magnetic strips that sound alarms at exits are being placed in millions of books.

Missing items are now reported to the FBI, which can help alert antique dealers, booksellers and auction houses.

LENGTH: Medium:   65 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  ASSOCIATED PRESS. Kenneth Lopez, who set up guard units 
          for space shuttle launches and State Department offices, has a 
          challenge as the first director of security at the Library of 
          Congress.