Feb 26, 2009: Report of Missing Books

I am disturbed. Two recent books on a particular subject that interests me have disappeared. I asked for a search for the first one and after some time the library concluded it was "missing." I have purchased a copy for myself from Amazon. Now the second one was not on the shelf and I have requested a search. Both books published recently deal with US involvement in Middle East peace negotiations. The most recent is DS119.76.K87 2008. If this is also found missing it will indicate something serious!

Thanks for your note. Since it pertains to stacks management but with the additional inference that there may be censorship-by-theft and therefore have implications for collection development, as the person in charge of both it certainly falls in my area.

New books have a particular tendency to become fugitive, partly because the online catalog can't always perfectly track their quick passage from cataloging to new book shelf to regular stacks, with of course book trucks and shelving rooms as stops along the way, and partly because there are many people who want to see them, sometimes for checkout and sometimes for a quick browse after which they are put on a table and begin a passage back to the shelves that isn't as quick or simple as may appear. I haven't seen any evidence of concerted patron- or staff-driven efforts to suppress any part of our collections in my 30 years of involvement in one end or another of it so I would hesitate to put much stock in this small sample.
Best wishes,
Paul Metz, Director of Collection Management