Yale map heist stirs University concern

Following a foiled theft of maps from the Beinecke Rare Book library at Yale, Princeton librarians said they are committed to preventing similar crimes here but declined to specify whether anything might be missing from University collections.

The thwarted heist, by map dealer E. Forbes Smiley III, was reported by The New York Times last week. Security video showed Smiley slicing a map worth $150,000 out of a book. When he was searched, more maps, valued at over $700,000, were found in his jacket and briefcase. University librarians said they were notified of the incident soon after it occurred last spring.

"Curators in this country use email to contact each other about these incidents, so there is a regular, standing system of communication," said Princeton Curator of Rare Books Stephen Ferguson. "I believe I knew about the Smiley case when it broke in June."

Ben Primer, associate university librarian for rare books and special collections, said that once the story broke, colleagues from several institutions other than Yale informed Primer of visits by Smiley to their facilities.

In addition to alerts from informal and formal networks of curators, the FBI notified libraries across the country about the Smiley theft. Library officials here declined to say whether the University received an FBI notification.

An FBI alert posted to online message boards said, "In the aftermath of the arrest, the FBI has been in contact with certain other rare book libraries and learned that those institutions are finding rare maps missing from volumes that Smiley had viewed."

University librarians declined to say whether logs and call slips show that Smiley visited or accessed holdings of the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, which maintains reading rooms within Firestone Library and the Mudd Manuscript Library.

Collection security is a primary concern of librarians and curators everywhere, Primer said. He declined to elaborate on University safeguards, concerned that the details could be exploited by would-be thieves.

"Having been in the Army and in military intelligence, I am always reluctant to reveal sensitive information that could be used by an adversary," Primer said.

Paul Needham, librarian of the Scheide Library, a privately owned collection housed within Firestone, was similarly reluctant to discuss specific security measures. The Gutenberg Bible, medieval texts, original Beethoven sheet music and other valuable items in the private Scheide collection are kept apart from the rare books owned by the University, Needham said.

"The room is within the general security alarm system of the library," he added.

Librarians store rare materials in several large vaults in Firestone, but they are still vulnerable to unscrupulous staff, Primer said.

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"Everyone knows that your principal concern is not people coming in, but internal sorts of problems," he explained.

But the University still takes precautions against theft of rare books by researchers.

No bags or coats are allowed in the reading rooms. All readers must register, describe their research and present photo identification — though impeccable credentials are no guarantee of integrity, Primer said.

"You have to assume in this business that anyone could be a criminal. The more credentials they have, the more knowledge they have, so they know what is valuable. A researcher with more credentials is almost more dangerous," Primer said.

Needham did not share Primer's view of a positive correlation between expertise and risk.

"In a way, I think people's credentials are irrelevant. Some people are dishonest and most people are not. I am not convinced that this correlates in any way whatsoever with education or knowledge of commercial values," Needham said.

Professors, dealers, students and staff merit equal suspicion, he added.

The risk of theft will never vanish, Primer said, but the Library hopes it will decrease over time as more documents and finding aids are made available via print, microfilm and digital surrogates.

"We have done everything that we believe that we ought to be doing in terms of security, and we're making incremental improvements all the time," Primer said.