LISNews: Librarian News

What happened to the Royal Library of Alexandria? We can be certain it was there once, founded by Ptolomy II Soter, and we can be equally certain it is not there now. It formed part of the Museum which was located in the Bruchion or palace quarter of the city of Alexandria.
The suspects respectively are a Roman, a Christian and a Moslem - Julius Caesar, Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria and Caliph Omar of Damascus. It is clear that the Royal Library could not have been burnt down or otherwise destroyed by all three of these characters and so we find we have too many sources for the event of the destruction rather than a paucity.

April Durham writes "Thieves strike again at Wahiawa [Hawaii] library: In most recent break-in (the sixth in 12 months), thieves carted off all but the last six of the library's computers, cutting away chains to haul them off. As for DVDs, the library now has only the ones that were in circulation at the time of the latest burglary. Head librarian Anthony Hooper fears it's only a matter of time until the library is hit again. Meanwhile, the building has to make do without a security system as various entities struggle to come to agreement and come up with resources." Bank robbers often return to branches and individual tellers that have served them well in the past. Time for an Insurrection?

The BBC Reports razors were used to steal a number of maps dating from the early and mid 17th century from the library's Aberystwyth building.

But a four-month delay in informing dealers of what had been taken may have prevented the maps being recovered, according to the Antiquarian Booksellers Associations.
Detectives at Aberystwyth are trying to trace a man wanted for questioning in connection with the thefts in Wales and abroad.

Peter Joseph Bellwood, 50, is listed on the Metropolitan Police's website as one of the 10 most wanted fugitives in the UK.
Small pictures of Mr. Bellwood included in the story.

Gary Deane sent us this story, straight from the home of the 2003 ALA Annual conference.

Toronto police are searching for the owner of a collection of extremely rare books that a suave young man was trying to sell in the city.

A man was arrested for possession of property obtained by crime after police were called by a suspicious book dealer, Inspector Ken Kinsman of the downtown 51 Division said yesterday.

The major-crime unit became involved because the centuries-old volumes were researched on the Internet and found to be worth tens of thousands of dollars.

The most interesting part of the story may be that the books haven't been reported stolen, as far as the police can tell. There are no library markings on the books, so they most likely are from a private collection.

The whole article.