Snippy Bitch Gets Caught

[Bruce Cammack <libop@TTACS.TTU.EDU>]

The following was posted on LIBSUP-L (a list for library support staff) and
was sent to me by one of my library's staff members.  Although it does not
deal with rare material, I find the student's attitude most disheartening.
I would appreciate it if anyone can either verify the account, or provide a
follow up.

Thanks


>>Subject:  Mutilation of library materials
>>
>>        Two weeks ago in the Ohio University Libraries Periodicals Department,
>>we learned of an incident where a student had ripped an ad from a magazine
>>"because she did not have five cents for a photocopy."
>>
>>        This week we are celebrating both National Library Week and the 25th
>>Anniversary of the opening of Alden Library.
>>
>>        Coincidentally, what should appear today (Thursday, April 21, 1994)
>>but none other than an opinion column (Take 2) on the editorial page of the
>>student newspaper, The Post.  It was written by none other than the
>>perpetrator of this crime.
>>
>>        It has caused such a stir among my follow library workers that I
>>thought I should share it, wondering what your reactions may be.  What
>>follows is the transcript of the column (all typing errors are mine).
>>
>>______________________________________________________________________________
>>__
>>                BUSTED AT THE LIBRARY: I tore out a page;
>>        they tore out my heart, fulfilling a writer's dream
>>
>>                                by
>>
>>                        Lisa Marie Rovito
>>                    POST entertainment editor
>>
>>
>>        (Athens, Ohio) --  Rip, Rip, rip. RRRRRRiiiiiiippppp.
>>
>>        That's the sound you could have heard two weeks ago last Friday
>>morning if you had been on the second floor of Alden library in Current
>>Periodicals.
>>
>>        That sound would have been followed by a whiny voice of disbelief
>>that squeaked, "Are you tearing pages out of that magazine?!?"
>>
>>        That first ripping sound was me.  And yes, I was, quite diligently,
>>tearing pages out of that magazine.
>>
>>        Being done with classes for the weekend, yet having no one with
>>whom to celebrate, I was bored.  I headed to the library to research a
>>photograph assignment, but I found myself, instead, thumbing through
>>Gourmet magazine.
>>
>>        Garlic and potato soup. Hmmmm.  Sounds interesting. Rrrrriiiip.
>>I tore the corner from the page it was printed on and threw it in my bag.
>>Flip. Flip,flip.  Carrot cake. YUM!  I haven't had carrot cake in decades!.
>>RRRRRRRRRiiiiiiiippppppppp! I tore out the whole page.
>>
>>        Footsteps.
>>
>>        "Are you tearing pages out of that magazine?!?" She could hardly
>>manage to utter the words.
>>
>>        "I only tore one." (Lie.)
>>
>>        "That is state property, young lady."
>>
>>        "I'm sorry." (Lie.)  "I only tore one page." (Lie.)
>>
>>        "May I have your ID?"
>>
>>        Sure, take it. What do I care?  Now if you'll excuse me, I was trying
>>to flip through this...
>>
>>        "Hello, Mr. Betcher?" she whined into the phone.  I could hear her
>>all the way back in section "G" of the magazines.  She was so proud of
>>herself.  "We have a student down here ripping pages out of magazines."
>>
>>        What? I could not believe it!  I thought she'd throw my ID into the
>>credit card-type machine, write up a little fine and tell me to think about
>>what I had done.  I trounced up to the desk, put out.
>>
>>        "I heard the ripping sound, and I came running," she heaved, as if
>>reliving the witnessing of a 12-car pile-up.  "Then, from between the
>>shelves, I watched her tear it!!!!!"
>>
>>        This was just like a government operation, I thought.  Spying,
>>whistle-blowing and scandal all before nine in the morning.
>>
>>        Mrs. Current Periodicals hung up the phone. "If you only knew how
>>many thousands of dollars are wasted every year..." she said, shaking her
>>curly,little head.  What a tragic morning she was having so far.
>>
>>        Enter Mr. Betcher.  Hot-shot, old man from the fourth floor come
>>down to give me a good whoopin' and learn me right about respect for
>>printed materials.
>>
>>        "Why'd ya do it?" he asked.  "Why?"
>>
>>        "Well," I said, eyeing the torn page that lay on the desk. It had
>>been turned over, carrot cake side down, and on the other side was a full
>>page ad for Clinique make-up.
>>
>>        "I needed to bring in the ad for my public relations class this
>>morning." (Lie.)
>>
>>        Why didn't you copy it?"
>>
>>        "I didn't have any money," (Lie.) I said as sadly and as
>>pathetically as I knew how.  I had money.  I even had a copy card.  Simply,
>>I had been quite comfortable there on the floor in section "G" and didn't
>>feel like getting off my ass to bother.
>>
>>        Even so, I felt warm tears drip quickly down my face.
>>
>>        "You didn't have a nickel?"
>>
>>        "I didn't have any money." (Lie.)
>>
>>        I didn't know why I was crying.  I was embarrassed and frustrated.
>>I was sad that someone as angelic as I am was being put through this sort of
>>thing, all because I like carrot cake.
>>
>>        He suggested I ask a friendly librarian like himself for a nickel.
>>I said I hadn't thought of it.
>>
>>        "Besides," he said smartly, "I'm sure if you would have explained to
>>your professor that it was a choice between ripping a page out of a magazine
>>and not handing in the assignment, he would have understood."
>>
>>        For a brief second, maybe not even that long, I felt a wave of
>>pity for these two people.  For Mr. Betcher, and Mrs. Current Periodicals
>>(who was carefully paging through the magazine trying to return the torn
>>page to its home, snug between pages 32 and 35) and everyone else in the
>>world just like them whose job it is to take pleasure in busting kids for
>>parking in the fire lane or for ordering it to go and eating in the
>>restaurant or for tearing a page out of a library magazine.
>>
>>        But that feeling went away.  I kept crying.
>>
>>        "I'm going to need your address," he said.  Mrs. C.P. was still
>>shaking her head.  "This information will be forwarded to Student
>>Judiciaries and they will be contacting you regarding further actions."
>>
>>        The next action I'd like to take was calculating just how much
>>one page in 200 from a $4 magazine actually costs, I thought.   I thought
>>about offering to order a back issue or tape the page in place or file
>>those cursed microfilm/microfiche things for a couple afternoons to make up
>>for it.  I sobbed a little.  It felt good.
>>
>>        "You're not going to do this again are you?"  That man needed a good
>>slap.  No, old man, next time I'll just shove the whole damn publication
>>in my knapsack and sneak it past your half-conscious Work Study bag-checker
>>just so I can go home, rip the pages out one by one and burn them all in
>>your name.
>>
>>        "No," I said. (Lie)
>>
>>        "I hope you realize the damage that you have done." he said.
>>
>>        "I wish this wouldn't have had to happen in the first place."  (Lie.)
>>
>>        Oh, not me, mister. Not at all.  You've given me a columnist's dream
>>come true.  Happy reading.  Oh, and feel free to tear this out and paste
>>it in your scrapbook if you like.  This in not state property, it's yours
>>to keep.  A little gift from your favorite criminal.




Bruce Cammack                                   "Outside a dog, a book is a
Special Collections                             man's best friend.  Inside a
Texas Tech University Libraries                 dog, it's too dark to read."
Lubbock, Texas 79409                            -Groucho Marx
(806) 742-3758