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首页> 外文期刊>American Libraries: Official bulletin of the American Library Association >The Secret Inside Your Library's Atlases
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The Secret Inside Your Library's Atlases

机译：图书馆地图集的秘密

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The opportunity is almost irresistible, if one has no scruples: * valuable items that anyone can ask to handle; * no physical barrier to leaving, even if the sensor system at the doors sounds an alarm; * a full bag of beautiful old books; * perfect anonymity as you dismember and sell them over the Internet. In other words, thousands of dollars profit for a few minutes of work. Recent changes in the market have made library book theft a feasible and profitable profession for more people. Anyone might expect that an original manuscript of a famous writer or a 17th-century tome would be valuable. The surprise is to learn that some fairly common library materials, not thought to be particularly old or rare, are bringing astonishing prices at used bookstores and Internet auctions. In September 2003, for example, an 1884 edition of Mitchell's New General Atlas was offeredfor sale for $1,499.95, the 1972 West Point Atlas of American Wars for $1,375.95, and a 1967 reproduction of Johan Blaeu's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum for $2,500. The particular problem for librarians, however, is not just protecting their books per se, but also their individual pages. Clean, bright, unmarked pages from many 19th-century atlases can sell for anywhere between $35 and $1,000 apiece. THE ROAD TO RICHES When one thinks of valuable items that may be found in a library's open stacks, perhaps first editions of famous novels come to mind. But a circulating book's commercial value is essentially destroyed by the way it is used in libraries. The dust jacket is either discarded or damaged almost immediately. The inside covers are property-stamped and a call number label is affixed. As the years go by, it is routinely bound in practical buckram. After decades of regular use, the tired thing finally falls apart and is replaced with a modern printing. Such passive and routine degeneration is the library's ally in theft protection. Atlases lead a different life. Purchased on a relatively regular schedule, they are considered essential material for every library. For the 10 years or so a particular atlas is considered a contemporary item, it receives frequent and fairly hard use in the reference area. Some 15-20 years after publication, librarians tend to view an atlas as dated and put it out to pasture in some sort of "old reference" or even oversized circulating stacks, where it is kept for decades. Not recognized as a particularly valuable item, it stays there until someone--librarian or thief--discovers its true value. A thief has three choices for selling a library atlas: as-is, accepting the reduced price that library marks bring; removing library marks through bleaching or archival-quality repair that can be passed off as preservation; or selling the pagesindividually. Obviously, the third choice requires the least work while bringing an excellent return. An added benefit of selling atlases page-by-page is that the thief can sell directly to the consumer at flea markets and at Internet auctions. A whole book with its big price tag is more likely to be purchased by a serious collector or a dealerwho is much more inclined to act on a suspicion that an item may be stolen. A sin almost equal to theft among dealers and collectors is to misrepresent the condition of an item for sale. In the used-book world, an ex-library copy, or "Xlib," is a severestrike against its value and must be divulged to the buyer. The situation is similar to a used-car dealer divulging whether a vehicle has ever been involved in an accident: Someone caught passing library books as private copies can lose all credibility among other dealers. We should not assume, though, that all used atlases on the market are hot. The practice of selling legitimately withdrawn library items is prevalent and is certainly acceptable. Similarly, the practice of disbinding atlases and selling them by the page
机译：如果没有顾忌，机会几乎是不可抗拒的：*任何人都可以要求处理的贵重物品; *即使门上的传感器系统发出警报，也没有物理障碍物; *一袋精美的旧书; *当您在互联网上肢解和出售它们时，具有完美的匿名性。换句话说，几分钟的工作就能获利数千美元。市场的最新变化使图书馆图书盗窃对更多人来说是一种可行且有利可图的职业。任何人都可能期望著名作家的原始手稿或17世纪巨著会很有价值。令人惊讶的是，得知一些相当普通的图书馆资料，虽然不是特别古老或稀有，却在二手书店和互联网拍卖中带来惊人的价格。例如，2003年9月，米歇尔（Mitchell）1884年版的《新通用地图集》（New General Atlas）售价为1,499.95美元，1972年美国战争的西点地图集（West Point Atlas of American Wars）售价为1,375.95美元，以及1967年约翰·布劳（Johan Blaeu）的剧院（Theatrum）Orbis Terrarum的复制品，售价为2500美元。但是，对于图书馆员来说，特别的问题不仅在于保护他们的书籍本身，还在于保护他们的个人页面。来自19世纪许多地图集的干净，明亮，无标记的页面每张售价在35美元至1,000美元之间。通往财富之路当人们想到在图书馆的书架上可以找到的有价值的物品时，也许会想到第一版的著名小说。但是，一本流通书籍的商业价值实际上被其在图书馆中的使用方式所破坏。防尘套几乎立即被丢弃或损坏。内盖带有属性标记，并贴有电话号码标签。随着时间的流逝，它通常被绑定在实用的buckram中。经过数十年的常规使用，累了的东西终于消失了，并由现代印刷代替。这种被动和常规的退化是图书馆在盗窃保护方面的盟友。地图集过着不同的生活。按相对定期的时间表购买它们，它们被认为是每个图书馆必不可少的材料。在大约十年的时间里，特定的地图集被认为是当代作品，它在参考区域中得到了频繁且相当困难的使用。出版后约15至20年，图书馆员倾向于将地图集视为过时的，并以某种“旧参考书”或什至是超大的流通书架放进牧场，并保存数十年。它没有被认为是特别有价值的物品，它会留在那里，直到图书馆员或小偷等人发现其真正价值为止。小偷有三种出售图书馆地图集的选择：按原样，接受图书馆商标带来的折扣价格;通过漂白或档案质量修复去除图书馆标记，这些标记可以保留下来;或单独出售页面。显然，第三个选择需要最少的工作，并带来出色的回报。逐页出售地图集的另一个好处是，小偷可以在跳蚤市场和互联网拍卖中直接出售给消费者。价格昂贵的整本书更可能被认真的藏家或更愿意采取行动怀疑可能被盗的经销商购买。经销商和收藏家之间几乎等同于盗窃的罪过是歪曲了待售物品的状况。在二手书的世界中，前图书馆副本或“ Xlib”是对其价值的严厉打击，必须向购买者透露。这种情况类似于二手车经销商透露车辆是否曾经发生过事故：有人抓获通过图书馆藏书，因为私人复制品可能会失去其他经销商的信誉。但是，我们不应该假设市场上所有使用过的地图集都很热门。出售合法撤回的图书馆物品的做法普遍存在，并且肯定可以接受。同样，解除地图集绑定并按页面出售的做法

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