ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the question of library crime as perceived by the practising police officer. Advice will be offered on ways in which the criminal threat in libraries can be significantly minimised by judicious security planning and investment. The emphasis throughout is on the concept of designing out crime. Library and information managers must face up to the contemporary reality of criminal activity in their organisations. Library and information managers, in facing up to the unpleasant truth of crime in their organisations, must take the question of security planning seriously. Criminals are people who are prepared to take chances, and the greater the likelihood of their being apprehended as a result of criminal activity, the less likely it is that he or she will take that risk. The responsibility of the library or information service manager is to try to achieve a balance between security and access, and this is not an easy objective to achieve.
