R.J. Yancey
Staff Writer
rjyancey@valdosta.edu

 With more students than ever, the Odum Library staff has noticed an increase in missing material, ranging from academic journals to weekly subscriptions of magazines and newspapers.

As a preventative measure, certain books and articles are bound with security strips, but because these strips are so expensive, many articles are left unsecure. In addition, confronting those who set off the alarms has proven difficult.

“There’s a hesitancy to confront people when they leave when the alarm goes off,” Jack Fisher, acquisitions supervisor of Odum Library, said.

Due to the lack of security, there has been a noticeable disappearance of titles like Glamour and Entertainment Weekly.

 “We get microfilm for some of the more popular titles, but of course people don’t want to look at microfilm for Vogue,” Fisher said.

For many of these missing magazines, replacements are rarely ordered because there is alternative access to them, either on microfilm or through an online database.

“For the academic types of things there’s less theft, but it’s definitely a factor,” Fisher said. “They still go missing.”

The academic articles are usually very expensive in comparison to weekly magazines, and are also more frequently used by both students and staff for research purposes. As these journals go missing, the Odum staff compiles a list in hopes that they will turn up. If they are not recovered, VSU has to place an order for replacement copies, in effect costing the school money by having to purchase the same product twice.