ABSTRACT
The venerable Astor Library felt the effects of mutilation when Richard Boyle Davy, who had been granted alcove privileges at the behest of John Elliot Ward, was excluded from the institution for the mutilation of the two-volume Revue de Paris. The problem of mutilation was cited in a Carnegie Council on Policy Studies report, Fair Practices in Higher Education, as of major proportions. Surveys can be made to find which periodicals are most susceptible to mutilation. Perhaps if more thought were given to the choosing, operation, location, and number of copying machines, part of the mutilation problem would be solved. One way of avoiding the problems created by malfunctioning machines is to have the copying done by staff members on staff machines. The use of coin-operated machines is generally dictated by staff and budgetary considerations. Little had been written about the use and choice of such coin-operated machines.
