The Washington Post reports that a recent survey of materials at the Library of Congress shows that 13 percent of the institution’s collection is unaccounted for. And here we thought the D.C. Public Library system had problems.

The results of the review, which will be presented before a congressional hearing today, showed that 17 percent of materials requested through the library’s retrieval system could not be found. Four percent was subsequently located on nearby shelves or had been labeled with the wrong call number, leaving the 13 percent total of missing material.

In the early 1990s, the Library suffered a series of thefts in which antique prints, architectural drawings and photographs were being cut out of books to be resold to collectors. Could these recent numbers mean that entire volumes are now being stolen? Maybe, but from the sounds of how the retrieval system actually works, it’s more likely a matter of how the Library still exists in the stone ages:

The problems start at the front desk, where the public still uses paper call slips, a method the inspector general called “outdated and inefficient.” That creates a problem because when the paper request is filled, and the item is off the shelves, it does not show up on the automated system as “charged out.” Then when the employee goes to the shelves, it is technically missing.

Some members of Congress are outraged to hear the Library of Congress, which holds 135 million items, is functioning at such a poor level. Of course, for the last several years, the institution has received about half of the funding for which it has asked for inventory control. It’s time for Congress to put its money where it’s mouth is and modernize the Library of Congress.

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