Libraries suspect ruse, fear Seuss’ll get loose

Libraries across the state are on the lookout for Grinches who might want to steal more than Christmas.

The Arkansas State Library advised libraries to take precautions to protect their Dr. Seuss collections in a statewide bulletin March 3, state librarian Jennifer Chilcoat said. The advice was given after Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which manages the estate of the popular author of children's books, announced that it would no longer publish six Dr. Seuss titles because they "portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong."

The six titles are: "And to Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street," "If I Ran the Zoo," "McElligot's Pool," "On Beyond Zebra!," "Scrambled Eggs Super!" and "The Cat's Quizzer."

The announcement set off a buying -- and borrowing -- frenzy. More than 1.2 million copies of stories by the late children's author sold in the first week of March, more than quadruple from the week before. According to NPD BookScan, which tracks 85% of retail sales, the top sellers weren't the books being withdrawn.

The renewed and newfound interest found its way to local libraries.

A woman said she drove 170 miles from Springdale to the Faulkner County library in Conway last week and asked to check out all six of the Dr. Seuss books going out of print, according to library director John McGraw. She had no library card nor was she eligible for one, he said.

She left empty-handed.

Many public libraries in the state have temporarily pulled the six titles, while others have removed all Dr. Seuss books from the shelves, for now, because of concerns people may try to steal them, library staff members said.

"Some of these are really obscure titles," McGraw said of the discontinued books. "I've read a lot of Dr. Seuss books, and I've never read some of these. Some are hardly ever checked out. Now every Dr. Seuss book we have is checked out and there's a waiting list. This is all because what's happening is poorly understood."

Popular titles such as "The Cat in the Hat," "Green Eggs and Ham," "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" and others remain in print, he said.

Copies of "If I Ran the Zoo" were selling for $100 or more on the popular eBay internet sales site Thursday morning. One copy, a 1950 first edition, was listed for sale at $1,399 plus shipping. Copies of the much more popular "The Cat in the Hat" were selling for $15 on the site.

'So call a big meeting. Get everyone out."

-- Horton Hears A Who

Prairie Grove's library has three of the six Dr. Seuss books that will no longer be published, including an original 1937 copy of "And to Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street."

Amanda Thulin, children's librarian, said the library received two calls from young men about the books. The first caller asked if he could buy the library's Dr. Seuss books. Staff members quickly informed him that the library doesn't sell books. The second caller asked if someone from Bentonville could get a library card.

She said two young men they didn't recognize visited the same day and tried to check out Dr. Seuss books. Staff members said no, and the decision was made to take the books off the shelves.

Chilcoat said the state library cannot order local libraries to do anything, but staff members decided to advise them to be wary after hearing about a Northwest Arkansas incident.

Libraries in Central Arkansas were responding to the decision by the author's estate this week.

Tameka Lee, a spokeswoman for the Central Arkansas Library System, on Wednesday said officials were reviewing the Dr. Seuss titles in question.

Nate Coulter, the library system's executive director, said Thursday that copies of the Dr. Seuss titles in question haven't been isolated or protected. Thefts of a book where a person checked the title out and didn't return it could theoretically happen with any title, he said.

"To the extent we have given any thought to this, I think our collective view would be, we don't want to suppose or assume that any of our patrons would be interested in profiting from the library owning one of these titles that's now become controversial by hanging onto it and hawking it on eBay," he said.

Crystal Gates, executive director of North Little Rock's William F. Laman Public Library System, said Wednesday that circulating books "comes with an expectation of damage and wear and tear."

"Difficult to locate and out of print materials are often moved to in-house use only in order to better preserve the materials," Gates wrote in an email. "In order to ensure our ability to provide access to the titles, at least one copy of the newly out of print titles will be moved to in-house use only."

Staff members at the Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Library System confirmed that they received the state library's advisory. A staff member at the Arkansas River Valley Regional Library System in Dardanelle said the libraries in its system hadn't reported any problems.

"From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere!"

-- One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Glenda Audrain, director of the Washington County Library System, said libraries in its system are getting a lot of requests for the six books. In some cases, people are simply curious, Audrain said. But in other cases, she thinks people want to sell them.

Most of the libraries are removing the books from circulation and requiring people to request the book and read it in the library.

"We decided to be cautious so we don't lose them," she added.

She noted books from the library aren't really in a condition to be a collectible because they are labeled, stamped and sometimes tattered from use.

"But it seems there are people in this who are trying to make money off of it," Audrain said.

Anne Gresham, assistant director of the Springdale Public Library, said the library temporarily removed 16 copies of the six books from its shelves to preserve the collection.

The books are available to check out and use in the library, she said. Gresham noted that the Springdale library has 230 books in its Dr. Seuss collection.

"They're always popular," she said. "They go in, and they go out. They are staples of our children's collection."

"Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act."

-- Oh, The Places You Will Go

Judy Casey, Rogers library director, said the library has the six discontinued titles and they circulate.

The six scrutinized titles were all checked out at the Bentonville Public Library with pending holds, which the library will honor, Director Hadi Dudley said Wednesday.

"Despite the rise in the value of these titles, Bentonville Public Library is confident that our patrons will respect their collection and return the books to the library," Dudley said.

Sarah McClure, manager of children and teen services at the Fayetteville library, said the library has all six of the books in question, though one is an electronic book only. Others are available in print and electronic format.

"The Cat's Quizzer" is missing, though officials think it was missing before the announcement, she said.

Of the physical copies on hand, staff members pulled one of each book since they will no longer be in print, she said.

"We are not an archival collection, however, we want to preserve them as rare, historical books," McClure said. "We had numerous people place the books on hold after the announcement, and some are still circulating in our collection. The chances are higher that these particular books might get checked out and never brought back because of the news surrounding them."

Scott Baker with Farmington Public Library said a "new" patron wanted to know if Farmington was going "to get rid of" its copies of the six Seuss books. The man offered to take the books, sell them and donate the money back to the library.

Information for this article was contributed by Lynn Kutter, Mike Jones and Doug Thompson of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and by Joseph Flaherty of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.