TROY, Mich. – The Troy Public Library is working with Troy Police to try and catch a vandal, after hundreds of books have been damaged.
“We don’t know why this is happening,” said Cathy Russ, Director of Troy Library. “It’s disturbing to us and we just want it to stop.”
Russ says library employees started noticing damage to the tops and bottoms of book jackets and spine labels several weeks ago.
“We know it’s not someone who is checking them out and returning them, we’d be able to track them down,” said Russ. “This is someone at our library going aisle to aisle.”
While the pages are intact, the books still readable, the rips and tears still come at a tremendous cost to the library.
“Some of the items can be repaired but some have to be removed from the collection and we do not have the funds to replace them,” said Russ. “This also affects our patrons’ ability to check out materials.”
That is where Patti Serafini of Troy comes in, a mom of three and an elementary school teacher who wants to help.
“It just hit very close to home for me,” said Serafini. “My family and I come here once a week, I wanted to do something to help.”
Serafini started a Go Fund Me Page to help raise whatever money she could to replace the books.
“There’s something about that’s very special and that should not be destroyed,” said Serafini. “We’ve raised $100, so we want to keep spreading the word, every little bit counts.
The library is working with the Troy Police Department to investigate. The staff is asking anyone who visits the library to report any damages discovered or unusual behavior.