More strange decisions at BCPL

DVD thefts lead to more "questionable" policies

Russell Lorrie, staff reporter

Braddock, TX

Only weeks after instituting a search policy for customers, BCPL has added a new level of security. Customers who browse the Media Arts section and leave the section with DVDs will now be required to show library security the DVDs and their library card. Library security guards will be posted outside the Media Arts section to enforce the policy.

Library Operations Manager Inez Mitchell takes credit for this latest change in policy. "I feel that this will help us catch the person who is taking our DVDs."

Director Kelly Millis believes that the person taking the DVDs is "not checking them out, nor do they have a library card, so if they don't have a library card issued to them there is no way for them to get the DVDs out of the room. I just want to applaud Inez for being so on top of things and realizing that this policy is a fool-proof way to catch the thief.

An anonymous employee of BCPL begs to differ, however. "This is just another stupid idea by Mitchell and Millis. I swear, I'm out of this place as soon as I can find another job. Those two are the biggest buffoons I've ever seen. They think that this is actually going to solve the problem? They're fools. They've locked the bathrooms, they've searched customers, now they're making people show their library cards? Well, I mean how hard is it to just present a library card? I mean, just because they show the card doesn't mean they will check the DVD out and if they don't have one, it's pretty easy to get one. They could just steal one for that matter. If they had any brains they would make people check the DVDs out in Media Arts. I swear, these people are ignorant of how real libraries run."

When asked his views of the policy, The Liberal Librarian stated that "Millis and Mitchell are Nazis at heart. They need to start searching the staff, too, because they have the easiest access to steal materials. All you have to do is walk out the employee exit- that's what the DVD thief is doing."

Mitchell and Millis were both dumbfounded when confronted with these employees comments. They demanded to know who the anonymous employee was so they could discipline the person. They are unable to discipline The Liberal Librarian because he is not an actual employee of BCPL, he is here on a research fellowship.

In other BCPL news, after once again being embarrassed by nearby Solie Public Library at TLA, Millis and Mitchell have announced an initiative to finally win an award. Despite having a small staff and budget, Solie continually wins prestigious awards given out by TLA while BCPL despite it's large budget and large staff never seems to be recognized by the library community. A former employee of BCPL, Aaron Whitaker who now works at Solie as the Manager of Collection Development says "it's quite simple. BCPL never wins anything because the people that work there suck. They can't get jobs anywhere else and BCPL can't hold on to any of their good employees. The supervisors are incompetent, the long-time employees are weird and never get promoted. There are a couple in General Research Services that have been there for years and can't move up to save their souls. Not that they should be because they are idiots. Solie wins because we actually work and have actual meaningful jobs. The local library schools and TLA trash BCPL and tell their students and members not to apply there because they have such a bad reputation. And if you are foolish enough to do so, you go down like the Hindenburg. Any good employee gets passed over for promotions for goofs who don't even have to be interviewed and then they leave and go on to make a name for themselves. Just ask the 13 people since 2005 to leave GRS, they're all doing better since leaving. " Mitchell said that Whitaker is just mad because he no longer works at BCPL, though she is legally not at liberty to say why Whitaker resigned. Millis gave a terse, jaw clenching "no comment" when asked about Whitaker's comments.