ABSTRACT
The scarcity and great effort of time and labor necessary to produce books in centuries caused the community to look upon book theft as a serious crime. The notion that book theft is a crime deserving of prosecution came into existence early. In 1897 a student named Friedman was caught stealing books at the New York Public Library. Indian library scholar Badri Prasad says that stealers and mutilators of library materials should be punished but feels that it is punishment enough in most cases to deprive the offender of his or her library privileges. The Iowa Legislature, for instance, passed legislation in 1979 which states that anyone caught trying to pass the checkout desk with concealed material from the library will be considered guilty of theft and liable for criminal or civil prosecution.
