[CALIBK12] Stolen textbooks being sold online?

[Emily Milla]

I have had suspicions about this as well, and I have also been told by several students that they have heard rumors about it. (We have a lot of backpacks stolen from our P.E. locker area.) At our school, we have had a few replacement books brought in that had school markings obscured with sharpie. It is possible that the other school adopted a new title and discarded them, but there's no way to tell for certain.

I have no real ideas for solutions except refusing to take used books as payment for a lost book. We do already require that they bring the receipt from the online transaction so that we know that at least our student purchased the book in good faith. We have also had students who purchased what turned out to be free publisher sample copies that are clearly marked as such, or that have the corner cut off. We have refused to take those. I think that if schools were to become stricter about taking books with markings, etc., the thieves would just become more sophisticated about shaving or sanding page edges, etc. prior to selling the materials. Last year, we had an AP student who lost her book and stole a book from a classmate who had left it in the classroom (although I'm sure would not have put it so bluntly). She removed the barcode from the inside back of the book, somehow erased where the book number was written on the title page and wrote in her own book number, and shaved or sanded the bottom edge of the pages where we write the book number and wrote in her own book number. I was suspicious about her demeanor and about the missing barcode label, so I checked page 101, where we place a second sticker with the book number, and, sure enough, the numbers did not match up. That probably would have gotten past other employees or volunteers if she had ended up at a different station to return the book, and we would have ended up with two textbooks in circulation with the same barcode number. (Her book was returned by yet another student the next day.) I know that many schools do not allow a student to return a book at all if the barcode is missing, but our administrators feel that this is too extreme.



Emily Milla
Library Clerk
Escondido High School
<emilla at euhsd.k12.ca.us>

>>> Henry Gordon <librarian at yahoo.com> 09/06/07 11:54 AM >>>
Like many others, we have encouraged students and parents to replace lost textbooks with used copies purchased online.  The library saves the time of processing payments and reordering books.  The student saves money by purchasing a used copy at much less cost than than the school district charges for a new one.  It's a win, win, right?
I thought so until last week when I received two replacement books (in lieu of payment) that were stolen from other public schools in California and apparently sold online.  I was able to trace one copy back to a 3rd party reseller doing business through "Amazon.com Marketplace."
I fear that this practice could become widespread.  Has anybody else had a similar experience?  Does anybody have a suggestion how we can collectively deal with this problem?
Henry Gordon
Toby Johnson Middle School
Elk Grove, Calfornia