Rogue Librarians

     

                          Librarians Go Rogue

Staff at the East Lake County Library say they were just trying to save books.

But one librarian has been fired in connection with a scheme involving the creation of a fake library patron who “checked out” more than 2,000 books over the last year, as

The fake patron, named “Chuck Finley” is recorded as checking out 2,361 books ranging from children’s book Why Do My Ears Pop? to John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row.

Branch supervisor George Dore was fired on Dec. 27,  Two other employees involved are still working at the library.Dore told the Sentinel that two employees hatched the plan for a good reason. The library’s computer system automatically flags books for removal if no one has checked them out within a year, and they wanted to keep the books on the shelves.

This plan prevented the books from getting tossed, which also prevented the library from having to spend money re-purchasing books its staff wanted to keep.

Some news outlets have suggested that the library might have an ulterior motive — boosting its funding by fraudulently increasing circulation statistics. But county spokeswoman Pappacoda told said  that this just isn’t true — county libraries, she said, do not receive funding based on circulation numbers.

Even so, Pappacoda said, the county felt that firing Dore was justified because in creating the fake patron — which involved a made-up address and driver’s license number — the library was “creating a false public record.” She added that no one involved was facing any criminal charges.

Pappacoda also said that after the county was tipped off that something seemed suspicious with the library’s records, they got a third-party auditor to assess the situation. It was that auditor who found out the truth about Finley.

                       This is to sad, trying to save books and get fired for it. What do you think?