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Faced with $102,860 in overdue books and videocassettes, the Alamance County Memorial Library in Burlington, North Carolina, provided city police in mid-February with a list of more than 60 people who failed to return borrowed library materials. Under North Carolina law, stealing or even detaining library books worth more than $50 is a felony.
At least 35 people, including six juveniles, have been arrested so far, according to the March 23 Winston-Salem Journal. The adults face five to six months in jail, while the juveniles could spend time in a detention center.
Library Director Margaret Blanchard told American Libraries that materials worth more than $47,000 have been recovered, some of which have been overdue for 8–10 years. Blanchard said that the library "is not doing this because we are vindictive—we just want our materials back.... The attitude of our patrons is they are glad we are doing this. It's not fair for these people to be keeping library materials."
Posted March 30, 1998.
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