Libraries Get Modern Ways, Modern Crime : Burglary: Computers, VCRs and other electronic devices are now as much a part of libraries as books. They also attract thieves, making security a new concern for officials.

There’s more to a public library than just books these days. And now that computers, VCRs and other expensive electronic devices are part of their offerings, some area librarians find they need additional equipment as well--burglar bars, for example, and extensive security systems.

Three libraries in the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw area and two in South-Central Los Angeles have been hit by burglaries and break-ins at least 10 times altogether in recent months, prompting them to order electronically operated security screens, window bars and other devices.

Hardest hit has been the View Park Public Library, target of four break-ins since May. Officials said thieves have made off with about $20,000 worth of computers and other equipment from the Los Angeles County facility.

“They’re certainly not stealing books,” said Carol V. Thompson, manager of the View Park branch. “They break in and take what they want--the computers and other expensive items--and then leave before they can get caught.”

Similar break-ins have occurred over the same period of time in the Los Angeles city Library Department’s central region. Burglars have hit the Baldwin Hills and Angeles Mesa branches in Crenshaw and the Vernon and Junipero Serra branches in South-Central. Among the items taken were a television set, a videocassette recorder and a microwave oven used by the staff.

City and county officials say that the problem appears so far to be confined to Southwest and Central Los Angeles.

To protect the View Park branch, county officials have ordered electronically operated metal screens for the doors and windows. For the four city library branches, gates and bars have been ordered and two security officers have been assigned to patrol the library facilities at night.

City library officials said the burglaries have set back efforts to modernize the inner-city branches, where residents sometimes complain of being shortchanged on services, compared with branches in more affluent neighborhoods.

Barbara H. Clark, who manages the nine branches in the city’s central region, said the library tries to balance its allocations to avoid disparities, but the break-ins are making the task difficult.

“With the acquisition of modern materials, we have also seen an increase in burglaries,” she said. “Attempts to meet the community’s needs are frequently thwarted by burglaries that rob the community of the very services we are trying to provide.”

In the past, libraries were not the primary target of burglars. “Libraries don’t have large sums of money and the burglars are not interested in books,” she said. “The new technology has brought a rash of burglaries.”

Computers are a preferred target for burglars, said Detective Kenneth Hamilton of the LAPD’s Southwest bureau. “Ten years ago they stole IBM typewriters, and today they steal computers.”

Another reason for the increase is that burglars often have seen libraries as an easy mark. Most libraries were not built with security in mind.

“We are vulnerable,” said Kris Morita, a business manager in the city Library Department. The incidents of crime--cases including burglaries, vandalism and assaults--have increased over the past year from 650 to 900 throughout the city library system, she said.

Most libraries have alarms that go off when intruders enter the building. “But even with the alarm, the burglars know there is still time to grab something and run before they get caught,” said Thompson, at the View Park facility. “It’s very frustrating to come to work after a burglary. You are walking in, the children are walking in. There is broken glass around. You can’t get started with the program. You have the feeling of being violated.”

That feeling extends to residents in the neighborhood, said Bonita Cooper, a mother who likes to take her children to the View Park branch.

Cooper lamented that the library’s broken doors and windows have been covered up by plywood for more than a month, and she expressed concern that the county might one day “add up the tab and say that View Park library is costing too much.

“This is a small library,” she said, “but it is a wonderful resource in the community.”