Thieves Steal $54,000 Worth Of Books From Law School Library -- Law Students Ask, 'What Are Books?'

It's like The Book Thief, except it's Ohio in 2018, so no one is going around saying Nazis are bad.

Dating back to March, a slow-motion crime spree has rocked the University of Dayton School of Law with nearly 300 textbooks worth over $54,000 stolen from the law library. That’s almost half of a Dayton JD in tuition!

The diabolical scheme took place over the course of a number of heists involving a number of bibliophilic brigands. Police have identified one as Christopher Begley, 29, of Columbus, which is over an hour away from the school, which is a long way to go to scratch your Williston on Contracts itch. Begley is suspected of taking part in every theft, while police are still on the lookout for two other men and one woman. All suspects should be considered armed… with knowledge!

Does anyone use a law library anymore? With judicial opinions, statutes, treatises, and journals available from multiple online sources, the role of a law library is more focused upon facilitating digital research than tending to physical volumes. That and serving as a quiet location to shoot porn. UPDATE: A tipster has pointed out that the school’s bookstore is actually in the same building as the library, which explains why these were mostly textbooks instead of Federal Reporters or something.

But focusing on these questions of practicality misses the point entirely. We must consider the real damage here, namely the incalculable damage that a 300-book deficit will wreck upon Dayton’s standing in the U.S. News rankings that still, inexplicably, consider the number of volumes in the library in determining law school quality.

Won’t someone please think of the rankings?

$54,000 worth of UD law textbooks stolen; police seek suspects’ identities [Dayton Daily News]


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HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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