COMMERCE : Library to Counter an Alarming Trend

These thieves love reference books, new bestsellers and the Bible.

Stuffing volumes under coats or in handbags, the culprits make off with 582 books each year from the city’s three libraries, running up the replacement tab to about $26,000 annually. Library officials have had enough.

Within six months, the Central Library at 5655 Jillson St. will be equipped with a $40,000 security system to protect its $4-million collection. Approved by the City Council last month, an alarm will sound when materials are taken from the building without being processed. The system is long overdue, library officials said.

“I believe every library around us has one,” said Robert Conover, library director. “Our theft hasn’t been exceptionally high, but it’s annoying.”

Though the city has a daytime population of about 12,000, the library has 15,000 patrons with active library cards. As budget cuts force other city and county libraries to close or cut their hours, the Commerce Central Library has become a haven for many readers, a dependable place to find materials and a quiet place to study.

Commerce has closed one library branch and cut 49 hours from others, but library use during the past five years has increased 45%, said Carrie Coolbaugh, assistant library director.

As the library’s use has increased, so has theft.

“Maybe they think it’s an inconvenience to bring it back, or you think you have a greater need for it,” Conover said. “People may be embarrassed to check it out if it’s controversial. Religion books often turn up missing.”

The staff will install one-quarter of the library’s 80,000 books with “targets” that will set off an alarm if they are taken from the building without being checked out.