[Publib] Protecting DVDs from theft -- time to let go?

[Paul Ericsson]

Hi Linda --

A few months ago we finally, but reluctantly, 
gave in to the reality that our loss of "fiction" 
or entertainment DVD's was so great, that we had 
to put in place some kind of anti-theft 
precautions.Up until then they were not secured 
at all. We had found that a large and measurable 
portion of the DVD collection had walked out the 
door not checked out and never 
returned.  Recently we had a thief(s) who seemed 
to worry that the cases were security tagged, and 
so was stealing the discs and leaving behind 
empty cases.  Over a recent three month stretch 
we were getting enough of the blank cases showing 
up that we had to stop the bleeding.

We evaluated adding the security overlays that 
are compatible with our 3M gate system, but the 
cost of retro-converting the collection was 
significant enough that we looked at the "plan 
B"    All of our other regional branches except 
ours, do not have any kind of security system for 
their materials at all - and have in place other 
routines for filing the dvd's behind the circ 
desk.  As much as I resisted it - the reality was 
that filing the dvd disc behind the desk and 
shelving empty cases, was an almost 
no-direct-cost solution and could be done 
quickly.  As stated by you - it has enormous 
costs to staff time and productivity for the 
long-haul. We utilize an older microfilm cabinet 
to file the discs into in plastic sleeves (fit 
perfectly), and put out empty boxes for patrons 
to browse.  Its working - the loss has stopped.

My "feelings" were of frustration that the theft 
level brought us to having to take these 
measures.  But the "facts" were that we had a 
significant loss due to theft out the door and we had to address it.

Final thought - you point out well that there is 
another facet to the issue of loss of A/V 
materials.  We also have a higher rate of DVD's 
that are checked out to patrons but never 
returned.  In most cases the patron does not 
respond to overdue notices and bills, and when we 
do individual phone call follow-up, we find that 
the phone is disconnected.  Most of our mailed 
overdue notices that are returned as 
undeliverable also are for long overdue A/V 
materials.   To address this issue, our entire 
region has instituted a limit of 7 DVD/VHS items 
checked out at one time.  This at least puts a 
cap on what a single patron can check out and not return.

That's our experience from the north country.  Best wishes with it

Paul

Paul Ericsson
Branch Manager, Bemidji Public Library
218-751-3963
ericssonp at krls.org


At 04:30 PM 3/31/2009, you wrote:
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>Is anyone successfully housing their less 
>“attractive” DVDs out in the public area without 
>any security system in place?  We double house 
>all our DVDs and our popular CDs.  Patrons turn 
>in browser cards to pick up the actual items at 
>the circulation desk.  This is time consuming at 
>the busy circulation desk (and takes the staff 
>member away from it) and twice as much work for 
>shelvers.  We turned off our Checkpoint system 
>several years ago.  We decided after looking at 
>the cost that it was probably more expensive to 
>continue to use the system than replace what 
>disappeared – most of what we lose isn’t 
>out-and-out stolen but are items that were 
>checked out but not returned.  The gates were 
>left up with the hope that really dumb thieves 
>would be deterred, so some people may still 
>think we have an operational security system.
>
>Years ago, with some trepidation, we put our 
>classical CDs out in the public area.  Theft 
>doesn’t seem to have been a problem.  We are now 
>wondering about moving DVDs that are not feature 
>films or TV series (basically everything except 
>791.43 and 791.45 Dewey numbers) out into the 
>public area.  It would free up real estate in 
>the workroom, where we are running out of space 
>for new DVDs and popular CDs, and also might 
>result in a higher circulation of these 
>non-fiction DVDs.  A few of these are probably 
>going to walk for sure, but I would hesitate to 
>hide select DVDs in this group behind the desk 
>as it would presuppose borrowers of particular 
>titles or subject areas are more prone to 
>dishonesty than other folks, which may not be at all the case.
>
>As some have pointed out, most books cost as 
>much or more than DVDs, but we treat the latter 
>like they were solid gold.  They are more 
>concealable, and therefore possibly more 
>attractive to a thief, but it does seem like we 
>are spending an awful lot of time and money protecting DVDs.
>
>Thoughts pro or con? Please respond to me 
>directly and, if there is interest, I will post 
>a synopsis of responses to the list. Thanks!
>
>
>Linda V. Ballard
>Director, University City Public Library
>6701 Delmar Blvd.
>University City MO 63130
>314.727.3150; fax, 314.727.6005
>
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