Let's say you want to borrow a DVD from the Central Library. Casablanca. Maybe The Godfather. You scan the shelves in the Popular Library room at 19th and Vine streets, but can find none of the flicks you want. Have they all been checked out? Nope. They're just gone.

From The Sopranos to Ben-Hur, some 1,500 titles that should make up half of the library's collection have either been stolen or just not returned. Since DVDs cost up to $29 a piece, thieves have essentially robbed taxpayers of some $37,000 and sullied what video librarian Brian Convery calls "the oldest honor system around." To him, "it's the ultimate betrayal of public trust." Although taxpayers at the city and state level fund the acquisition of new materials, few library officials interviewed for this story were concerned enough to take immediate action.

It shouldn't be this way.

A stick-on sensor and clear plastic box protects each DVD and should trigger an alarm at the front door. Library director Elliot Shelkrot says this system and other safeguards like cameras stop theft "the vast majority of times," but "people can figure out a way to sneak things out of there, whether they open a window and toss it out to a friend or do something else."

Says Convery, "Frankly, our security is stretched. They're not always at each point at each moment."

Shelkrot rejected the idea that some of Convery's $30,000 annual video-buying budget could be better used to expand branch library hours or beef up another service. He says the more popular an item, the more likely it is to be stolen. "We don't just buy the things that won't be stolen," he says, "because that means we would be buying things people don't want to borrow."

Patrons can borrow up to five DVDs for a week. After that, they accrue fines of $4 a day, overdue notices are sent out, a collection agency takes over and, ultimately, the transgression hurts the borrower's credit—if he or she borrowed the item legitimately. Shelkrot estimated 80 to 90 percent of people who borrow materials and never return them eventually pay up. (No numbers were available for DVDs.)

The library is a great resource for film buffs—a few new releases on order are The 40 Year Old Virgin, Hustle & Flow and March of the Penguins—but not if the most popular movies never find their way back to the library. "We're going to buy a lot more [DVDs]," says Jack Peterman, head of the Central Library. "What hinders our effort in doing that is we do lose a significant amount because of theft."

Upon hearing of the thefts, City Councilman Frank DiCicco—whose support of the library last budget season earned him, along with Councilman Michael Nutter, Library Journal's 2005 Politicians of the Year award—suggests that the library require identification beyond a library card, and a refundable deposit. "Libraries are a crucial part of the fabric of any community," he says. "And the taxpayers are paying for this. We need to protect the taxpayers' money."

Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown logically suggested the library should consider modeling security practices after commercial rental stores, which often have empty DVD cases on their shelves, forcing renters to get the item from an employee. Shelkrot, however, maintains that his system is efficient enough.

Theft in urban libraries is always a concern, but libraries in other cities have taken decisive steps to protect items. In Gwinnett County, Ga., which is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area, DVD theft got so out of hand that the library board cut the program this fall, according to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. Baltimore County Public Library uses boxes and sensors similar to the ones used here to secure its 50,000 DVDs, but established a barrier to funnel people through a check-out security line, says Director Jim Fish.

Despite the losses, Daniel Walters, president of the Public Library Association, an organization focused on improving library services and staff, likened shutting down a library program because of theft to closing a public park because of vandalism.

"It would be a shame to suggest the Free Library would cease acquiring media that are clearly popular because thieves are ruining it for those who want to follow the rules," says Walters. "This is not to say there isn't a concern."