A man applied for a card from the Beachwood Library and, over two visits, withdrew 100 books. He later posted two videos, one in which he burned all of the books.

Summary

A man checked out 100 books from Beachwood Library in Beachwood, Ohio, covering Jewish history, African-American history, and LGBTQ topics, and later posted social media videos showing the books with captions referencing “cleansing” libraries before burning them.

Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative alerted the library about the posts.

The books were worth about $1,700. Since they are not overdue, the library will bill the man later.

Police say the matter is civil unless he fails to pay. He is now banned from returning to the library.

  • GoodLuckToFriendsEnglish
    111·
    16 hours ago

    Because the man was legally in possession of them at the time. It’s the same reason that you have to go through a tedious process to have your car reported stolen if you let someone borrow it and don’t bring it back.