At the age of ten, Tomic pulled off his first heist. He broke into a library in Mostar, climbing through a window that was nearly ten feet above street level. He stole two books, each of which appeared to be several hundred years old. (The older brother of a friend learned of the theft and returned Tomic's plunder.) Tomic said of his early criminal adventures, "It was intuitive. Nobody ever taught me anything."COMMENT
Not one, but two stories about criminal careers that began at the library! (see: Lee Israel). Perhaps the temptation is that library patrons are invited to touch and use objects that are rare and valuable. They seem to belong to nobody.
Many years ago a graduate student friend admitted to me that he had stolen library books that were relevant to his PhD thesis. The books were so specialized he could not imagine another person ever wanting to borrow them. Sometimes you encounter stories of people who, like the friend's older brother, develop guilt over unreturned library books. Sometimes people return stolen books many years later, occasionally together with an appropriate fine.
One college librarian I worked with used to buy books on sexual health and deliberately fail to install protective magnetic strips that would set off the anti-theft gates. He thought there was a need to put such books in the hands of students too embarrassed to check them out. When the books inevitably disappeared he'd simply replace them, deliberately stocking the library shelves with books meant to be stolen.
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