How to steal a library book?

[MathAndMarx26]

Hi, has anyone here stolen books from libraries?

I've googled it and I know that there is a magnetic strip that needs to be removed/desensitized but I would be happier to here more in-depth accounts from people who have actually done this.

Just to put it in context I am trying to nab a book from my university library, and it is a five floor bldg with few accessible windows which can be opened, equipped with those alarm things at the doors, and there are CCTVs and guards all over the place.

My plans so far are:
1. Get the book from the shelf -> bag it -> inconspicuously head to the bathroom -> remove the magnetic strip inside a locked cubicle -> flush the strip down the toilet -> put the book back in my bag and get out.

2. Get the book from the shelf ->inconspicuously head for one of the three possible windows which I have scouted out so far -> open the window and toss the book out as quickly as I can without anyone seeing -> get out of the bldg and grab the book from wherever it fell on the ground.

Thoughts? Stories? Suggestions?

Thanks in advance comrades.

[Riot]

You won't make much money on ex-lib books, for this very reason. People don't want to encourage the theft of books, so library books have 90% the exchange value of non-library books. If the value you are getting out of these books is actually reading them, wouldn't the best thing to do just to read it, then return it to the library, anyway? They do exist to lend out books, you know... Have you tried.... you know... getting a library card? The best books are often the ones that haven't been checked out since 1964 or something crazy. Go digging for gems at the library, not raking for $$s. These places are some of the last bastions of public quiet and learning. Support the library, don't leach off of it. That said, there are some libraries out there that are so horribly neo-liberalized that you would be doing those books a mercy by rescuing them from those bastions of surveillance!

[MathAndMarx26]

I didn't wana say why I'm trying to pull this off but since you brought it up:
My motivation isnt for $$$... more of 1) im tryna get back at the lib for fining me roughly 41$ for a 16$ book that I lost 2) getting back at it for all the exorbitant late-return fines i've ever incurred during my 3 years at Univ 3) Kind of just for fun and to try and see if i can do it. I've been nabbing library books all the way back since I was around 8 years old, but now things have gotten a whole lot harder and I need help... Gone are the days when you can just put in ur bag or even just walk straight out while holding the book non-suspiciously.
If it matters to anyone, I'm making sure that I will only get a book which has more than 1 copies in the lib. And as to the type of book, I was thinking initially What is Property? by Proudhon but its located in the line of site of a CCTV so im still thinking. But i generally plan to steal a left/marxist/anarchist/communist type of book.

[(A)]

If it has windows and you have a partner drop it out the window.

Personally I am a fan of running shoes and a fake mustache.

[Antiochus]

Dumbest thread ever. Why don't you just check the book out and maybe have it photocopied or something? Surely that beats stealing a book someone else might want to read.

[MathAndMarx26]

Dumbest thread ever. Why don't you just check the book out and maybe have it photocopied or something? Surely that beats stealing a book someone else might want to read.

Like I said, this is sorta for revenge purposes for all the money ive had to give up to the lib, its for fun, I plan on getting a book with a 2nd copy around, and I might not have mentioned it but it would be good to add another (leftist) book to my personal collection (which I am willing to lend for any who might need to do so), for people who could never have accessed it if it just remains the University library.

Also, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to call it a small act of defiance/illegalism against a very pro-capitalism and bourgeois educational system.

*update: I checked the windows... they are locked. Any personal accounts from people who have successfully stolen from libraries by removing the magnetic strips?

[almost]

borrow lots of their toilet paper over time as needed

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

So you blame the library for you losing books and not bringing others back on time?

[MathAndMarx26]

So you blame the library for you losing books and not bringing others back on time?

No, but I blame the library for overcharging me.

I don't need moral judgement and guidance. I already know that most people view stealing books from the library as a bad and evil thing. But if you've read my posts here so far, you'll see that I have my own motivations, and I think that it is obvious from my very act of starting this thread that my morals are unconventional/twisted. (e.g. i find it fun/theres a thrill in trying to steal a library book)

Also, nice signature its the first time i've seen that quote.

[Full Metal Bolshevik]

No, but I blame the library for overcharging me.

I don't need moral judgement and guidance. I already know that most people view stealing books from the library as a bad and evil thing. But if you've read my posts here so far, you'll see that I have my own motivations, and I think that it is obvious from my very act of starting this thread that my morals are unconventional/twisted. (e.g. i find it fun/theres a thrill in trying to steal a library book)

Also, nice signature its the first time i've seen that quote.

Then burn it to the ground! How's that for a thrill?

[Wessex Way Monster]

No, but I blame the library for overcharging me.

I don't need moral judgement and guidance. I already know that most people view stealing books from the library as a bad and evil thing. But if you've read my posts here so far, you'll see that I have my own motivations, and I think that it is obvious from my very act of starting this thread that my morals are unconventional/twisted. (e.g. i find it fun/theres a thrill in trying to steal a library book)

Also, nice signature its the first time i've seen that quote.

Lol your morals are "twisted"?

No, I think not. You revel in the aesthetics of 'evil'.

[Krymz]

so easy:

- go to the library as if you were going to do a lot of academic work, with binders and all. find a secluded table and sit so you don't face people that would see you do the next steps.

- as you pretend work, rip off the magnetic tab thing discretely, i.e. have your hand covered by a few pages or a binder, as you write stuff like "fuck you library" and "fuck the system" in a different notebook with your other hand, as if you where writing down quotes.

- when you are done, after a while, pack up everything in your bag, ditch the sticker somewhere it wont be found (if you can somehow get it in something that you can trow in the garbage/recycling), and leave.


try it with just one the first time, in case taking that magnetic thing off is somehow not enough. if it works, do it again soon before they realize some books are gone and double down on security/surveillance. also make sure to check the guards patrol, and when they are watching the cameras. would be worth it to have a friend make a distraction while you rip things out. or to try and cross the detector at the same time as either an accomplice who can have a mag book and be like "oh oops my bad" while you skeet away, or with a random person while you have earplugs on and just keep going lol.

did I just become an accomplice?

also good to think that collateral damage is others "like you" who need library to access knowledge, even if it's run/owned by a bunch of [insert negative characteristic here].


(e.g. i find it fun/theres a thrill in trying to steal a library book)
reminds me of crimethink....

[IbelieveInanarchy]

Have fun stealing a leftist book people might be actually be interested in reading on paper instead of on a pc screen. How sad would it be that a person would not read the magnificence of The Communist Manifesto because of your petty infantile behavior.

[Wessex Way Monster]

Have fun stealing a leftist book people might be actually be interested in reading on paper instead of on a pc screen. How sad would it be that a person would not read the magnificence of The Communist Manifesto because of your petty infantile behavior.

I fully endorse what OP is doing with your new pathetic opinion guiding me there.

[SOGO]

I'd probably find new ways to get thrills.

[IbelieveInanarchy]

I fully endorse what OP is doing with your new pathetic opinion guiding me there. Why?