The library hasn't been back to court since that case, she said. "We did notice that some things that had been out for quite a while did suddenly come back," she said. Padilla said she saw a spike in returned overdue materials after the arrest. Iowa law classifies failure to return library materials as theft, and the town has a 1993 ordinance, said Sue Padilla, director of the Newton library. Nearly 150 libraries in Texas participated in a survey earlier this year that found 966,000 items were checked out long enough to be considered lost, with the total cost exceeding $18.2 million, said Gloria Meraz, a spokeswoman for the Texas Library Association.Īmong the most notable library-related arrests came in 2011, when a man from Newton, Iowa, served more than a week in jail for failing to return 11 library books and six CDs worth $770. It's an issue that has cost libraries a lot of money. But he said there was no accurate count on how many states and communities issue arrest warrants. He said he couldn't do it earlier because he checked it out before beginning a three-year prison term for robbery.īeing jailed for absconding with library materials "is an uncommon occurrence, but can happen once in a while," said Mark Gould of the Chicago-based American Library Association. Enck was released on a $200 bond, requested time-served - and returned the book. In that case, police were called to the 22-year-old's apartment on an unrelated disturbance charge, but officers arrested him after finding a past warrant for the study guide. "I was a police officer for 12 years, and while it wasn't a regular daily thing, we had maybe a couple of these a year," he said, adding that he didn't know why Enck's arrest in October got so much attention. Keller said he didn't know how many people had been jailed on library-related offenses. If the fine isn't paid, the municipal court issues a warrant, city spokesman Kevin Keller said. In Copperas Cove, about 70 miles northwest of Austin, a 2002 ordinance mandates a $200 fine for each library item that goes unreturned 20 days after a written notice is sent demanding its return. Other states also call for fines or even arrest warrants in such cases, including Iowa - where an overdue-book offender was jailed for a week - Vermont and Maine.
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