A man applied for a card from the Beachwood Library and, over two visits, withdrew 100 books. He later posted two videos, one in which he burned all of the books.

Summary

A man checked out 100 books from Beachwood Library in Beachwood, Ohio, covering Jewish history, African-American history, and LGBTQ topics, and later posted social media videos showing the books with captions referencing “cleansing” libraries before burning them.

Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative alerted the library about the posts.

The books were worth about $1,700. Since they are not overdue, the library will bill the man later.

Police say the matter is civil unless he fails to pay. He is now banned from returning to the library.

  • rumba@lemmy.zipEnglish
    244·
    3 days ago

    Meanwhile, the library just buys new copies of all the books out of tax money.

    • andros_rex@lemmy.world
      6·
      2 days ago

      That’s assuming that all of the books are still in print and available.

      If my personal collection was burned, there are several books that are not replaceable. Especially when you get to books about marginalized groups - things put out by small presses. Limited releases.

      • rumba@lemmy.zipEnglish
        1·
        2 days ago

        This is some random library, my point is, he’s going to get billed for the books that he might not care about, but they’re not just going to be gone.