Page 213 - DLIS003_LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

Library Administration and Management

Notes Considered to be a waste of time, energy and money by some;
May turn out to be a futility since the reality may never be revealed for various reasons.
Loss of Books: Loss of books is inevitable in open access libraries wherein the users have the
freedom to browse through books, though a closed access system is also not immune from loss
since theft may take place through staff which has access to the stock.

The reasons for stealing or mutilating of books may be as follows:
Some are regular thieves and stealing is their inherent character. Despite necessary
precautions it may be difficult to control this type of thieves.
Poor vigilance may tempt some people to steal. The reader may find stealing an easy way
out compared to borrowing.

Very strict rules and regulations regarding the use of books may also induce people to
steal. For example, certain materials are not lent out for home reading and a reader may
be disinclined to refer the same within the library premises for various reasons. It is very
common in academic libraries to find issues of periodicals with pages missing, because of
this reason.
Some book lovers have a pervert possessive attitude towards books and may steal them.

Lack of proper security policy in libraries.
Wrong assumption that theft is only through library users and staff is free from such trait.
Responsibility for Loss of Books: In a majority of libraries of the western countries, librarians
are not held responsible for books losses, but many organizations in India continue to hold
librarians responsible for book losses. The situation has fortunately, changed now for the better,
mainly due to the efforts of professional bodies like library associations. It is generally accepted
that a loss of three books per thousand books circulated as a normal loss which may be written
off.
Measures to Minimize Book Losses: Steep rise in cost of books, ill-organized Indian book market
which makes replacement of lost material difficult, dependence on foreign publishers together
With increasing tendency towards theft and mutilation lead us to give more serious thought to
the security measures in libraries. Some of the measures adopted by the library may conflict
with policy of efficient access to library materials. But the librarian is responsible also for
preservation of library material for the future generation. Instead of ad hoc measures such as
installation of electronic theft detection mechanism, the Library must formulate a definite well
spelled security policy. Some of the issues which should be made part of the policy are listed
below:
Security of collection including equipment’s.
Closed/restricted access policy, appointment of guards, publicising penalty for theft and
mutilation, property stamping, equipment tagging, locked storage facility for equipment,
proper identification of users, after use procedure to determine damage if any to the
equipment.
Security of cash Provision of cash box, cash register, cash handling procedure and
accountability.
Computer based bibliographic and patron’s records Terminal access/permission, password,
back up type, disc/software, policy of off site location for back up data, microfilm duplicate
records.

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