Collection Dilemmas: Frequently Missing Items
Patron: "Do you have any GED books?" Librarian: "Uh, mayyyyybe, let me check. Sorry, not right now. Can I put one on hold for you?" Replace "GED" with books on witchcraft or sex; titles by Stephen King or Sister Souljah's The Coldest Winter Ever ; memoirs like A Child Called "It " ; almost any popular DVD you can name, especially horror films; rock and rap CDs . . . this interaction plays itself out with depressing regularity. A quick check of the catalog shows that my library (just this building, not any of the branches or the extensive network we belong to) has purchased 26 copies of The Coldest Winter Ever , all but three of which have disappeared from the collection. They've been stolen, lost, or taken home and never returned. Each time we purchase one of these items new (in paperback) and process it for circulation to the public, the cost is around $8.00, meaning that we've spent over $200 just to keep one book on the shelf...