“We Have Met the Enemy. . .” Collection Security in Libraries

Abstract

Between 1979 and 1986, American libraries reported thefts and missing materials, including: rare books valued at $500,000 from Harvard’s zoological library; 400 books worth $6,000 from the University of New Hampshire; $20,000 in rare science books from the DeGolyer collection at the University of Oklahoma; $1.1 million in plates, engravings, maps, books and manuscripts from the University of Georgia Library in two separate cases; $130,000 in rare books and manuscripts from George Washington University; more than $100,000 in incunabula from Boston College; $200,000 in rare documents from the Thomas A. Edison National Historical Site; $25,000 in books from the general . . .