The RWC library staff has recently been finding evidence of what seems to be the theft of their books and other media materials. Stealing from one of the few places that provide free services seems immoral, but it seems that people may be doing just that. RWC students Nick Nguyen, Chiron Tate, and LaNique Bass part of the library’s staff and are concerned about the rising amount of evidence of theft they are finding. Materials in the library are all tagged with special security devices that set off an alarm when the material exists the room without being checked out. Parts and pieces of these security devices have been found throughout the library. Although there is a chance that these tags were not removed on purpose, the increasing rate of ripped out pages and destroyed materials found around the library says otherwise. When searching for a book in the libraries database, a book that shows up as being on the shelf may not really be on the shelf. In this situation, it’s almost impossible to know if the book was stolen or if has just been misplaced. Obviously, this complicates things for everyone.
The student assistants are frustrated at the cycle and do not really know what they can do to help the situation and have been instructed to call security if they catch someone stealing, which is almost an impossible task due to the large size of the library, the limited number of staff, and the constant upkeep that the library requires. LaNique Bass and Chiron Tate have both been working at the library since the fall and love spending time there. There job requires a lot: work at the front desk is just like that of any library-checking out and returning books, answering phones, answering questions, helping people find materials, reshelving, organizing shelves, adding paper to the printers, etc. Now, they always have to be keeping an eye out for unusual activity as well. They hope that people will learn to have respect for the library and what it provides to students instead of taking advantage of the situation.