College and Research Libraries Destruction of Knowledge: A Study of Journal Mutilation at a Large University Library Constantia Constantinou Book and journal mutilation is a problem for libraries. The rising cost of replacing mutilated books and journals and the availability of out-of-print materials concerns many librarians. This paper examines one type of mutilation-the removal of pages from journal titles at the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library of New York University. The study reviews the related lit- erature; it discusses the methodology of the descriptive study on journal mutilation at Bobst Library; it analyzes and interprets the results of the study, makes suggestions that could help reduce the problem, and pro- poses other topics for additional research. ot long ago, an e-mail mes- sage circulated among library collection staff which dis- cussed the increasing prob- lem of book and journal mutilation. The message outlining these issues read as fol- lows: This past term our library staff no- ticed an increase in the number of books and journal issues that are being damaged, e.g., pictures ra- zor[ed] or torn out [and] entire con- tents removed with only the covers left on the shelves or in nearby gar- bage cans. So far, we have not been able to identify any particular sub- ject area or collection that has been victimized more than another. In a time where our collections budget cannot keep pace with purchasing new publications, the cost of replac- ing older, heavily used material is a real concern. As well, several of the items are no longer in print and we are unable to replace them. . . . I would appreciate hearing any ideas for preventing, minimizing or cop- ing. with the situation. 1 Review of Related Literature Libraries realize that book and journal mutilation is a growing problem that sim- ply does not go away. It is costly and dis- ruptive for both libraries and library us- ers. Book theft and mutilation are cer- tainly not new developments of our time. Such acts can be traced as far back as 539 B.C. in Egypt when the Persian conquer- ors removed rolls of papyri from the li- brary of Ramses II. Around 41 B.C. An- thony, emperor of Rome, raided the Constantia Constantinou is a recent graduate of the Library and Information Studies Program at Queens College of The City University of New York and is a Bibliographic Searcher at the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library at New York University; e-mail: cnstntnc@is2.nyu.edu. 497 498 College & Research Libraries Pergamon Library and gave all its con- tents to Cleopatra. During the Middle Ages, librarians chained library books in order to ensure that no one would steal them. Later, during the Renaissance, Pope Nicholas V issued a statute excommuni- cating anyone who did not return books belonging to the church. Unfortunately, the problem of mutilation still exists. Ar- ticles and case studies are continually written that explore the psychological and sociological aspects of the phenom- enon of book and journal mutilation. The Motive It has been documented that motives to perform library violations are commonly attributed to sociological, psychological, and situational factors. 2 Such library vio- lations by users include: • eating and drinking inside the li- brary building, • disfiguring text and illustrations, • purposely misshelving items in or- der to deny access to them by other li- brary users, and • overborrowing library holdings. The first step in attempting to under- stand the nature and the magnitude of the problem of book and journal mutilation is to recognize these actions as acts of dis- ruption and vandalism. Clyde Hendrick, a professor of psy- chology, and Marjorie Murfin, a reference librarian at Kent State University, ap- proached the problem by studying their student population.3 The results of their survey showed that fourteen (8.3 %) of the 168 students who participated in the sur- vey admitted mutilating journals. Their statistical data showed no significant dif- ferences in the attitudes of mutilators and nonmutilators. A year later, Hendrick and Murfin published a study based on the interviews that they conducted with the three indi- viduals who admitted having ripped out pages.4 The purpose of the interviews was to examine the reasons and motives that drove the students to mutilation. They November 1995 discovered that hostility toward the li- brary played a significant role in the mu- tilators' acts of vandalism. The miscon- ception that unbound journals are cheaper than books also contributed to mutilation. In addition, the students' at- titudes toward mutilation changed when they learned how difficult and costly it was to replace pages. Academic pressure is a strong motive that can easily drive a person to misshelve books on purpose or to tear out pages. A student under pressure may hide the books and magazines in a particular area so that upon his or her return, he/ she can locate the needed books or magazines quickly. This escalating problem of muti- lation, as it relates to academic pressure, is also visible in professional schools. As one medical librarian stated, "The sur- geons of tomorrow are practicing their technique on our magazines today." 5 The results of Dana Weiss's study showed that academic pressure motivates students to mutilate books and journals, regardless of the quality of library ser- vices.6 Contrary to Hendrick and Mur- fin's findings, the Weiss study showed that the attitudes of students toward li- brary services have no relation to book theft or journal mutilation. Weiss believes that people who steal and mutilate library materials do so for sociological as well as psychological reasons. She attributes mutilation to sociological factors such as the environment: "Because this study was done in an urban university library, it could be said that the 'toughness' of the city life causes the theft. However, I be- lieve a case could be made for 'danger' on a rural college campus .... " 7 Conversely, Terri Pedersen showed that "situational circumstances" led stu- dents to mutilate and steaLB Mutilating journals and stealing library books were not viewed as expressions of hostility to- ward the library or the university. Instead, such acts were viewed as inconsiderate acts toward the needs of their fellow stu- dents: Because Emporia is in a rural area, the "toughness of the city life" is not a cause of mutilation and theft. The fault does not appear to lie with the library being unfriendly, cold, and anonymous. Students did not view the theft and mutilation problem as an expression of hostility toward the institution but instead felt that their fellow students were selfish and did not consider the needs of others.9 Hendrick and Murfin suggest that li- braries eliminate frustrating situations that can lead library users to act desper- ately. Theodore Hines, Thomas Atwood, and Carol Wall entertained the same theory.10,11 Their studies showed that bro- ken copy machines, confusion, lack of time or easy access, uncaring library staff, lack of efficient directional signs, and unfamiliarity with the library environ- ment and services generate frustration. Subsequently, anger builds up and library users take it out on library materials. Assessing Mutilation Carroll Varner suggests that by measur- ing journal mutilation, librarians are a step closer to preventing it.U Mutilation can be detected in the circulation depart- ment, the bindery (the University of Ne- braska at Omaha estimates that 50 per- cent of its mutilation is discovered from the bindery department), or by library users who report the incidents to the li- brary staf£.13,14 At the Pullen Library of Georgia State University, the Serials and Acquisitions unit is responsible for keep- ing track of journals with missing pages. 15 Descriptive inventory is another highly methodical technique used to as- sess mutilation. Descriptive inventory is tedious and time-consuming but is one of the most systematic and reliable ways to assess the full extent of mutilation. The feat of conducting a descriptive inventory for the entire collection is almost impos- sible. Librarians prefer to examine desig- nated areas of the collection, such as ref- Destruction of Knowledge 499 erence collections. 16 It is recommended, however, that if losses are above eight percent in any area of the collection, a full inventory must be taken. 17 The Elmer Bobst Study The purpose of this study was to identify the extent and rate of mutilation at the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library of New York University during the years 1990-1994. The study also attempted to identify titles and subject areas of the collection that are more vulnerable to mutilation than oth- Hendrick and Murfin suggest that libraries eliminate frustrating situations that can lead library users to act desperately. ers. In addition, the study investigated the possible relationship that exists between the availability of indexing and abstract- ing services on CD-ROM and the changes in the amount of journal mutilation. The Elmer Holmes Bobst Library of New York University is located in Green- wich Village. It is New York University's main library. Bobst Library is the center- piece of the New York University library system that includes four other special- ized libraries which are located in the School of Law, the School of Medicine and Dentistry, the Institute of Fine Arts, and the Courant Institute of Mathematical Science. New York University is also a member of the Research Library Associa- tion of South Manhattan, a consortium that includes libraries such as the Coo- per Union Library, the New School for So- cial Research Library, and the Parsons School of Design Library. The students of the consortium libraries share the same online public catalog, circulation system, and other library resources. Bobst Library is fully automated and houses approxi- mately 2,505,182 book volumes, 2,361,025 microfilm units, and 19,375 serial titles.18 Methodology At the Bobst Library, mutilated items are 500 College & Research Libraries identified in several ways: by the circula- tion department, the conservation labo- ratory, and the library users themselves. When the mutilated journal titles reach the collection services office, two employ- ees assume responsibility for replacing the missing pages. The two employees ex- amine each title using the method of page-by-page count and record all the pages that are missing. In addition to missing pages, they also record biblio- graphic information regarding the jour- nal title in a log. The bibliographic pro- file contains information such as title, call number, year, volume, and issue number. When the count is completed, the infor- mation is transferred to an interlibrary loan (ILL) request and submitted to the Interlibrary Loan Office. The journal is then returned to the stacks with a note that the missing pages are on order. As the pages arrive from the Interlibrary Loan Office, the Collection Services em- ployees retrieve the journal volumes from the stacks, inspect the ILL pages for com- pleteness, photocopy the pages on acid- free paper (double-sided), and send them to the conservation lab to insert the pages in the bound volume. For the purpose of the study, the researcher collected all ILL requests submitted by Collection Services over the past five years (1990-1994). The researcher arranged 1,264 requests in chronological order, first by year and then by title. Findings and Analysis The first group of data corresponding to the year 1990 revealed the following: 102 titles suffered some type of mutilation, 142 volumes of the journal titles suffered damage, 4,370 (20.8%) pages were torn out, and 204 incidents of mutilation oc- curred. During 1991, the figures had dropped significantly: mutilation affected fifty-eight titles and one hundred vol- umes, 2,410 (11.5%) pages were torn out, and the incidents of mutilation dropped to 152. By 1992, fifty-five journal titles suf- fered mutilation, eighty-nine volumes ------ --- ----- --- -- November 1995 were mutilated, 2,038 (9.6%) pages were ripped out, and 109 incidents of mutila- tion occurred. In 1993, the numbers in volumes, pages, and incidents suddenly increased: 102 titles suffered mutilation, 218 volumes were mutilated, 6,987 (33.1 %) pages were torn out, and 545 in- cidents of mutilation occurred. In 1994 (January-October) the numbers slightly decreased from the year before with eighty-four titles suffering mutilation. In addition, 167 volumes were mutilated, 5,256 (25%) pages were torn out, and 254 incidents of mutilation occurred. Table 1 demonstrates and summarizes the mutilation history of the Bobst Library at New York University for 1990-1994. It indicates the number of titles mutilated per year, as well as the number of vol- umes, pages, and incidents (number of times that each title had to be requested from the Interlibrary Loan Office). Table 1 indicates clearly that the heaviest muti- lation occurred during 1993 since more titles, volumes, and pages were mutilated in 1993 than any other year. The rate of mutilation was also the highest with 545 incidents. Possible Reasons for the Increase in Mutilation during 1993 The heaviest mutilation in terms of num- ber of volumes, pages, and incidents oc- curred within the call number ranges GV1580-GV1787 (Recreation, Leisure), HQ75 (Social Science: Sociology), and PN2 (English, American, and European Literature). The call number range GV1580-GV1787 includes journals re- lated to the Dance Collection. Titles such as Dance World, L' Avant Scene Ballet Danse, Dance and Dancers, Dance Chronicle, Dance Life, Dancing Times, Ballet News, and Ballett International endured extensive mutila- tion. Among the aforementioned titles, the most heavily mutilated was Ballett Inter- national. Ten of its volumes suffered mu- tilation during seventy-four incidents, and a total of 1,027 pages were torn out. Destruction of Knowledge 501 TABLEt Mutilation Per Year in Titles, Volumes, Pages, and Incidents Year Number of Number of titles and% volumes and % 1990 102 (25.4%) 142 (20%) 1991 58 (14.5%) 100 (14%) 1992 55 (13.7%) 89 (12.5%) 1993 102 (25.4%) 218 (30.5%) 1994 84 (21 %) 167 (23%) Total 401 716 Ballett International is a German publica- tion that consists of both articles and il- lustrations. The type of mutilation regard- ing Ballett International involved tearing out illustrations and articles. Dance and Dancers, Dancing Times, and Ballet News formed the next group to fall into the category of heavy mutilation. In each title, mutilation occurred in approxi- mately ten volumes and affected 720 pages from each publication. The type of mutilation was similar in all dance titles; vandals tore out illustrations, articles, and advertisements indiscriminately. Observations and Interpretations New York University has a large depart- ment in performing arts that supports both the undergraduate and graduate programs in dance, theater, and perform- ing arts. Consequently, the dance collec- tion is used heavily by a large popula- tion of students. However, close exami- nation of the physical volumes revealed that an individual or a small group of in- dividuals caused the mutilation of the dance collection. This speculation is based on the following findings: 1) the mutila- tion occurred within a period of six months, which is a very short time for a mutilation of this magnitude to take place unless someone systematically and con- tinuously mutilated the journals; and 2) pages were simply torn out (including articles, advertisements, and illustrations) and left either inside the journal or some- Number of Number of pages and% incidents and % 4,370 (20.8%) 204 (16.2%) 2,410 (11.5%) 152 (12%) 2,038 (9.6%) 109 (8.6%) 6,987 (33.1 %) 545 (43.1 %) 5,256 (25%) 254 (20.1 %) 21,061 1,264 where on the shelves close by, awaiting discovery. The second category of journals that suffered extensive mutilation consisted of two titles both in the field of Social Sci- ence, specifically in sociology, family, and marriage (HQ75). The mutilated titles were Christopher Street and Journal of Ho- mosexuality. The Journal of Homosexuality is a scholarly journal that contains only articles, as opposed to Christopher Street, which is a popular, highly illustrated jour- nal that deals with homosexual issues. Eleven volumes from the Journal of Ho- mosexuality suffered mutilation and 170 pages were torn out. This type of mutila- tion consisted of entire articles being ripped out. Eleven volumes from Chris- topher Street suffered mutilation, with 488 pages being torn out. The pattern of mutilation showed that the majority of the pages torn out contained illustrations, However, close examination of the physical volumes revealed that an individual or a small group of individuals caused the mutilation of the dance collection. including the front covers of magazine issues. In addition, the researcher discov- ered defaced pages with ink writings. During the summer of 1993, New York University offered a class through the program of Social Work that required writing papers based on extensive read- 502 College & Research Libraries ings from the Journal of Homosexuality. At the same time, many students com- plained to librarians at the Social Science reference desk after discovering entire articles torn out of the Journal of Homo- sexuality. It might have been possible that their fellow classmates mutilated the jour- nal or it might just have been a coinci- dence that they discovered the mutilation during the semester that they were en- rolled in the course. In the case of the Jour- nal of Homosexuality, the library purchased a copy of the title on microform and re- tained the print version on the shelf. As for Christopher Street, two types of mutilation occurred. The first type of mutilation involved tearing out pages and covers whose content consisted mostly of illustrations and photographs. The second type of mutilation involved alternating the text and illustrations. Ap- parently, individual(s) decided to deface some of the journal's pages as a way of expressing his or her personal beliefs on homosexuality. The person(s) quoted pas- sages from Christian books condemning homosexuality. Even though the defaced pages were not ripped out, the collection services staff had to replace them with photocopied ones. Mutilation by Subject Classification In order to analyze the data by classifica- tion categories, the researcher divided titles into subject categories using the Li- brary of Congress Classification Sched- ules as a consulting tool, and grouped all mutilated titles into twenty-four classifi- cation categories. Table 2 indicates the Library of Congress Classification Num- ber (LCCN) for each subject category, the different classification categories that were affected by mutilation (in certain subject categories where mutilation was heavily detected, the categories break down to smaller subdivisions), the num- ber of volumes affected by mutilation for each of the classification categories, the percentage of the mutilated volumes for each of the subject areas, the number of November 1995 mutilated pages per category, the percent- age of page mutilation, the number of incidents per subject category, and the corresponding percentages. Table 2lists the affected subject catego- ries. The five most affected categories were History, Recreation and Leisure, So- cial Science and Economics, Social Science and Sociology, and General English, American and European Literature. The area of History (D) suffered the heaviest mutilation in terms of number of pages, with 3,918 pages torn out and 138 ILL requests submitted during the past five years (1990-1994). The researcher de- tected a significant portion of the mutila- tion in this area, specifically in the titles Orbis, Past and Present and Journal of Con- temporary History. In the area of Recreation and Leisure (GR-GV) 3,790 pages were torn out and 288 incidents of mutilation occurred. As discussed earlier, the titles that suffered most of the mutilation in the Dance Col- lection were Ballett International, Dance and Dancers, Dancing Time, and Ballet News. Social Science and Economics (H-HJ) con- tained 3,311 mutilated pages with 192 incidents of mutilation. Damaged titles that contributed to this area's mutilation were the Journal of Public Economics, Poli- tics and Society, and Review of Economic Studies. Social Science and Sociology (HM-HX) was the fourth highest affected area with 2,445 mutilated pages and 197 incidents of mutilation. Christopher Street, Journal of Homosexuality, and Children To- day sustained the most mutilation in this category. The fifth group of journals that falls into the heavy mutilation category is the classification area of General En- glish, American and European Literature (PN-PS). The researcher discovered 1,666 mutilated pages and counted eighty- seven incidents of mutilation. Among the titles most affected were Boundry 2, Lit- erature Film Quarterly, and Wide Angle. Rate of Mutilation As seen in the analysis of table 2, the TABLE2 Subject Categories, 1990-1994 LCCN Subject Volumes %of All Vol. Pages % of All Pages Incidents % of All Incidents A General Works 10 1.40 316 1.50 11 0.87 B-BF Philosophy /Psychology 47 6.56 1,014 4.81 51 4.03 BJ Psychology-Ethics 1 0.14 25 0.12 1 0.08 BL Religion 9 1.26 108 0.51 13 1.03 c Auxiliary Science 5 0.70 115 0.55 5 0.40 D History 81 11.31 3,918 18.60 138 10.92 E-F History (American) 29 4.05 647 3.07 35 2.77 G-GR Geography-Anthropology 30 4.19 439 2.08 27 2.14 GR-GV Recreation, Leisure 73 10.20 3,790 18.00 288 22.78 H-HJ Social Science: Economic 128 17.88 3,311 15.72 192 15.19 HM-HX Social Science: Sociology 73 10.20 2,445 11.61 197 15.59 J Political Science 13 1.82 335 1.59 19 1.50 L Education 26 3.63 712 3.38 34 2.69 M Music 17 2.37 335 1.59 22 1.74 N Fine Arts 14 1.96 131 0.62 17 1.34 0 ~ P-PA Gen. Philology & Linguist. 19 2.65 471 2.24 26 2.06 r./J .... PB-PJ Modern Euro. & Orient. Lang. 10 1.40 212 1.01 12 0.95 a ~ PN-PS General Literature 68 9.50 1,666 7.91 87 6.88 ..... 0 Q Science 6 0.84 136 0.65 7 0.55 = 0 R Medicine 34 4.75 766 3.64 41 3.24 '""' ~ T Technology 17 2.37 115 0.55 35 2.77 = 0 u Military Science 1 0.14 11 0.05 1 0.08 ! v Naval Science 1 0.14 7 0.03 1 0.08 ~ 0. z Bibliography, Library Science 4 0.56 35 0.17 4 0.32 Otl ~ Total 716 21,060 1,264 VI 0 t.IJ 504 College & Research Libraries mutilation of pages is not always analo- gous to the rate of mutilation incidents. Table 3lists the top four classification cat- egories based on the number of incidents arranged in descending order. Even though the category of Recreation and Leisure (GR-GV) ranked second in terms of number of mutilated pages (3,790), it still had the highest rate of mutilation in- cidents with 22.78 percent. The Social Sci- ence and Sociology (HM-HX) category ranked fourth in terms of smallest num- ber of mutilated pages, but in terms of the rate of mutilation, it ranked second with 15.59 percent. The number of mutilated pages paralleled the rate of mutilation in the area of Social Science and Economics. In terms of pages and incidents, this cat- egory ranked third with 15.72 percent of mutilated pages and 15.19 percent of in- cidents. The last category, History (D), ranked fourth in number of incidents. Even though History had the highest number of mutilated pages (3,918), the rate of mutilation was only 10.92 per- cent. Possible reasons for this high rate of mutilation in the categories of Recreation and Leisure (GR-GV) and Sociology (HM- HX) may stern from the nature of some of these journal titles. Titles from the GR- GV classification category, such as Ballett International, Dance and Dancers, Dancing Times, Ballet News, and Christopher Street (HQ) are highly illustrated journals. ill us- November 1995 trations, especially color ones, turn titles into prime targets for mutilation. As stated above, the area of History suffered the heaviest mutilation with 3,918 pages missing, even though the rate of incidents (138) is the lowest. This type of asymmetry can be attributed to muti- lation of titles such as Orbis (1,740 pages missing), Journal of Contemporary History (618 pages missing), and New York His- tory (177 pages missing) that contain lengthy articles and no illustrations. Thus the person(s) who mutilated these jour- nals ripped out long articles, which in- creased the number of pages torn out. Relationship Between the Availability of CD-ROM Indexing Services and the Changes in Mutilation In order to find out if a relationship be- tween the availability of indexing services on CD-ROM databases and the changes in the amount of mutilation at the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library exists, the re- searcher organized the data in the follow- ing manner: titles with 500 or more miss- ing pages (Christopher Street included with 488 missing pages) and organized the raw data in a table. In this way, the researcher could establish whether highly mutilated titles are affected by title avail- ability on a CD-ROM database (see table 4). Table 4 indicates the classification number of the mutilated title, the journal title, the number of missing pages for each TABLE3 Rate of Mutilation LCCN Subject Pages %of Incidents %of pages incidents GR-GV Recreation 3,790 18.00 288 22.78 Leisure HM-HX Social Science: 2,445 11.61 197 15.59 Sociology H-HJ Social Science: 3,311 15.72 192 15.19 Economics D History 3,918 18.60 138 10.92 of the titles, the CD-ROM indexing data- base for each of the corresponding titles available at Bobst, the starting year of the CD-ROM database coverage for each of the titles, the year that each of the CD- ROM databases became available to Bobst Library users, the year in which mutila- tion occurred, and the number of miss- ing pages from the volumes whose years were covered by a CD-ROM database. Analysis and Interpretation As seen in table 4, three out of the eight journals are indexed by a CD-ROM data- base available to Bobst Library users. These titles are Orbis (ranked first in terms of number of pages missing with 1,740), World Politics (ranked third with 1,010 missing pages), and Journal of Contempo- rary History (ranked seventh with 618 missing pages). The other five journals- Hallett International, Dance and Dancers, Dancing Times, Ballet News, and Christo- pher Street-were either not indexed by a CD-ROM database or, if they were, the database was not available at the Bobst Library at the time that the library staff detected the mutilation. In the case of Orbis, which is the most heavily mutilated title, the library staff discovered the mutilation in 1994, a year when Periodical Abstracts, Predicasts, and PAIS were available on CD-ROM. The 453 missing pages were detected in volumes from 1976 to 1982. Periodical Abstracts and Predicasts began their CD-ROM coverage in 1989 and 1991, respectively. The only CD-ROM indexing source that covers mu- tilation of volumes from 1976 to 1982 is PAIS, which began its coverage in 1976. It is possible that the 453 missing pages from Orbis (out of a total number of 1,740 pages) is a result of the availability of the CD-ROM indexing database. In all the other titles, the library staff discovered the mutilation in the volumes not included in the years the CD-ROM databases cover. It is clearly shown in table 4 that no rela- tionship exists between the availability of indexing and abstracting services on CD- Destruction of Knowledge 505 ROM databases and the changes in the amount of mutilation at the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library. Conclusions and Recommendations Frances Meals said that it is a real chal- lenge for libraries to be able to give the user the best possible service. Such ser- vice involves preserving the collection so that what the user wants is always there and is conveniently available for use for as long as he/she needs it.19 1t is clear that journal mutilation affects students' edu- cation. Students cannot use the library's resources to their fullest because they can- not find articles in mutilated journals. They often have to wait for days to get replacement pages through ILL services. The findings of this case study indi- cate that the problem of journal mutila- tion is disruptive to the library and its users. Although book and journal muti- lation continues to be a problem, it is not an incurable one. In fact, public cam- paigns have proven effective in combat- ing book and journal mutilation. Such campaigns emphasize educating users on the difficulties of obtaining replacements. These antimutilation campaigns also can involve: • Posting signs with the warning that mutilation is a punishable crime. • Creating awareness of the problem by utilizing the campus newspaper and media outlets. • Providing an adequate number of photocopiers, change machines, and ven- dor card machines to dissuade users from mutilation. • Announcing the closing times in or- der to give students a chance to complete their photocopying. • Encouraging faculty to place an adequate number of required readings on reserve, especially during exam periods. • Encouraging users to report imme- diately any missing pages from the stacks. • Involving librarians more in main- taining and reviewing the physical con- dition of titles. if it found a correlation between mutila- tion in the monograph collection and the journal collection in similar subject areas. A study needs to be undertaken that examines the areas of a library's collec- tion that were subject to budgetary cuts, and then investigates mutilation to see if a relationship exists between such cuts and the amount of mutilation. Research has shown that the problem of book and journal mutilation does not have a per- manent solution, but ignoring the issue is certainly not the answer. For the sake of knowledge, truth, and the people who Destruction of Knowledge 507 seek them, the conscientious librarian has to make a choice: he or she can chose to work in silence or to protect the library Research has shown that the problem of book and journal mutilation does not have a perma- nent solution, but ignoring the issue is certainly not the answer. collection from mutilators, thieves, and vandals by confronting the problem of mutilation and actively reacting to it. Notes 1. Susan Bolton, "Dealing with Increase in Willful Destruction," Library Collection Develop- ment List, no. 284, COLLDVL®USVM.BITNET (Jan. 1994). 2. Sharon Mast, "Ripping Off and Ripping Out: Book Theft and Mutilation from Academic Libraries," Library & Archival Security 5 (winter 1983): 39. 3. Clyde Hendrick and Marjorie E. Murfin, "Project Library Ripoff: A Study of Periodical Mutilation in a University Library," College & Research Libraries 35 (Nov. 1974): 402-11. 4. --, "Ripoffs Tell Their Story: Interviews with Mutilators in a University Library," Jour- nal of Academic Librarianship 1 (May 1975): 8-12 5. Carroll Varner, "The Causes, Measurement, and Prevention of Journal Mutilation in an Academic Library," ERIC Document Reproduction Service, no. ED 234817 (1983) : 77. 6. Dana Weiss, "Book Theft and Book Mutilation in a Large University Library," College & Research Libraries 42 (July 1981): 345. 7.1bid. 8. Terri Petersen, "Theft and Mutilation of Library Materials," College & Research Libraries 51 (Mar. 1990): 128 9.1bid. 10. Theodore Hines, "Theft, Mutilation and the Loss-to-Use Ratio," Library Security Newslet- ter 1, no. 3 (May/June 1975): 1-4. 11. Thomas Atwood and Carol Wall, "A Case Study of Periodical Mutilation in a University Serials Collection," Library & Archival Security 10, no. 1 (1990): 35-41. 12. Carroll Varner, "The Causes, Measurement, and Prevention of Journal Mutilation," 78. 13. 1bid. 14. Carroll Varner, "Journal Mutilation in Academic Libraries," Library & Archival Security 5 (winter 1983): 20 15. Joan M. Luke, "The Mutilation of Periodicals in a Mid-Size University Library," The Serials Librarian 20 (1991): 95-109. 16. Jeannette Bobeen, "Mutilation of Library Resources: Containing a Study of Mutilation of the Reference Collection of the Undergraduate Library, Ellis Library, University of Missouri- Columbia" (M.A Thesis, Department of Library Scien·ce, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1974). 17. Carol Wall, "Inventory What You Might Expect to Be Missing," Library & Archival Security 7 (summer 1985): 27. 18. Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, New York University Libraries Fact Sheet (New York: New York University, fall1993). 19. Frances Meals and W. J. Johnson, "We Choose Microfilm," College & Research Libraries 21 (Jan. 1973): 223-26. ---------------------------------------------------- ------------------ Third World Women's Literatures A Dictionary and Guide to Materials in English By Barbara Fister Serves as a "companion" to Third World women's literatures in English and in English translation by presenting entries on works, writers, and themes. 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