Copper Thieves Plague Library

The Houston Public Library, TX, is the latest victim of a spate of copper theft that has spread across the United States in the last two years. On December 3, staff at the Julia Ideson Building, which houses the Houston Metropolitan Research Center and is the temporary location of the downtown central library's reference and circulation services as that library undergoes a renovation, discovered that thieves had severed and removed the wiring leading to the generator and emergency panel. The library lost power to the elevator, emergency lighting for the staircases, and fire alarm, according to the Houston Chronicle. The library was shut down for the day. Damages are estimated at as much as $25,000.

Copper is very attractive to thieves, as a building boom in Asia has boosted its price by about 400 percent in the last few years. Along with other public facilities like power stations and schools, libraries nationwide have been victims of copper thieves, who score an amount of metal that is worth a fraction of the damage they cause. The copper is often sold to recycling plants. Many states are considering legislation to combat the phenomenon.