Ways to prevent book theft?

I’m the lead tutor in the ESL language lab at a community college. Using grant funds, we have assembled a mini-library of paperback fiction at different reading levels for our students, who are learning English as a second language.

Over the last couple of years since this miniature lending library was created, the collection has diminished as a result of checked-out books not being returned, but also from books simply “walking off” without being checked out in the first place.

We do not have the funding to implement any electronic methods of preventing book theft. However, we are racking our brains to develop a simple system to accomplish this. There are more costly books we would love to order, but I’m not about to do it until I have an effective way to keep them from being taken.

We don’t want to treat our students like criminals, nor do we want to make the system so obnoxious as to discourage students from borrowing and reading the books in the collection.

Top 4 Answers

A few days ago

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Favorite Answer

Can you put them in an office or behind the lab desk on a rolling rack? That way they can be “given” to students to look at, and also monitored against theft.

Photocopy the college ID for each check-out and maintain in a binder. Just like the old days in a library!

Place a notice inside each book that students are resposible for returning the book and getting their “photocopied ID page” removed from the binder. Be sure that unreturned nooks place a hold on their account, like overdue library books and parking tickets.

Also, ask your campus library if they have any suggestions or out-of-date equipment that you might have.

A few days ago

momof3anglz

This is a tough one. As you mentioned the easiest way to help is to implement the electronic tagging system as it is effective, but costly. The only other thing I could suggest is that you keep the books that you are concerned about behind the counter and have the students request to view the materials, and have the students sign them out – provided that they have to give you a HOME phone number, address and a COPY of their State ID, Student ID or Drivers License. You could have the student give you their Library Card in exchange for the book, and if they don’t return the book, of course they will receive the fine, but no longer be allowed to utilize your library.

I know it’s a shame when materials walk off. It’s just ignorance, and it is not right. I hope that my suggestion will help in some way. Best of luck to you, and I hope that one day you will be able to get the new books that you really would like for your library.

A few days ago

fancyname

Surely your college has a library with the means to check out and tag books. Have the students check the books out via the library, a place they should be going to anyway. Give the students a reading list of recommended books. Let the library handle it from there.

5 years ago

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Ways to prevent book theft?

Ways to prevent book theft?

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