A former employee of the St. Joseph County (Ind.) Public Library has been charged with the theft of $43,344 worth of books, videotapes, CDs, and videodiscs from the library over a period of three years. Carol Jaworski was a part-time circulation clerk at several different library branches from 1998 until she was fired August 31, the South Bend Tribune reported November 28.
According to police reports, most of the materials were recovered from the homes of Jaworski’s grown daughters in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and in Phoenix, Arizona, as well as from her own residence in South Bend. A break in the case occurred when a school librarian in Grand Forks contacted the St. Joseph library about books she purchased at a yard sale in August that bore its identification marks.
Library Director Donald Napoli told the Tribune that administrators noticed early in the year that items were disappearing from various branches and new acquisitions were not making it to the shelf. Jaworski’s job involved logging returned and new materials into the computer system.
Napoli said that as a result of the case, all library employees are now required to exit the building through the electronic scanners.
Posted December 3, 2001.