We'll send the cops around too. Depends upon how much money or what is involved. The last go-round was a woman who had us borrow a videotape (hard enough!) of Indian dancing on Interlibrary Loan. She gave the usual excuses ("A friend borrowed them" "My pet dragon has been ill" and so on) but had no follow-through on her promises. Now, our reputation in ILL is on the line here, so we finally sent the "Bring 'em back or else we'll see you in court" letter and the item was returned immediately.

One woman who got The Letter also got a cop coming up her walk after she ignored The Letter. She ended up spending the night in jail because she also had not reported to her probation officer.

If anyone thinks libraries likes to do these things they're very much mistaken. However, we hold these items in trust for the community we serve and as such we have obligations to the community and state law gives us the tools to enforce those obligations.

We will no longer allow you to borrow CDs and DVDs or more than 3 books the first time you check out materials. This is because so many people would get a card, check out CDs and/or DVDs, and never return. The "borrowed" materials end up in some pawnshop or flea market and the proceeds are then snorts, smoked, or injected.

Yes, it's a very small minority who do these things. But I'm always surprised when the media is surprised that a library anywhere decides to enforce the law and the public trust.

Another aspect is the cost. My materials budget for next fiscal year will be less in actual purchasing power than this year and it has been dropping in actual purchasing power since 2004. I can no longer afford to ignore thieves.