. . . in the Periodicals Stacks.
Or, more precisely, mutilation of the still living bodies of several library journals.
Yes, mutilation . . . it’s a true, sad secret in many academic libraries & it happens here at USF.
On Valentine’s Day, 2 hoodlums skulked into our Periodicals stacks and proceeded to rip pages out and covers off of several journals that belong to the library and, by extension, to all USF students, faculty and staff.
A student worker saw them acting suspiciously and came to tell her supervisor. Before she could finish explaining, the culprits were leaving. The deed was done, the damaged materials left behind as evidence.
If these thugs had read the Student Handbook, they would have read the part under Student Academic Honesty Policy that says:
“Adherence to standards of honesty and integrity precludes
engaging in, causing, or knowingly benefiting from any aspect
of cheating on assignments or examinations including
but not limited to: . . .
(13) removal, mutilation, or deliberate concealment
of academic materials belonging to the University libraries,
computer laboratories, or other learning resource centers”
If a student is caught engaging in this type of behavior, a complaint may be reported to the Committee on Student Academic Honesty. Violators are subject to disciplinary action; sanctions for academic dishonesty range from reprimands and counseling to expulsion from the University.
This is pretty “big stuff” for students to consider — a whole academic “life” tainted or even ended because of the petty theft or vandalism of library materials.
As a librarian, I just wish we didn’t have to deal with this — it’s ugly and it certainly doesn’t fit with the image we have of the students we think we see every day. They have respect for their institution as well as the resources provided for their academic use and they respect the people who work and attend classes here.
So, who then, are these people who do this kind of thing . . . ?
