Wednesday, October 06, 1999
Book Thrown
At Library Scofflaw
By MIKE CLAFFEY
Daily News Staff Writer
Nearly everyone has committed the sin of having an overdue
library book or two. But 500?
Meet George Szamuely, a man whose stubborn refusal to return books to
New York University's library has earned him $31,000 in fines and at
least one night in jail.
Police detectives yesterday raided Szamuely's apartment on Stanton St.
on the lower East Side, recovering a stash of political science and
history books and arresting the New York Press freelance writer.
Szamuely, 44, had kept more than 500 books from NYU's library,
borrowed when he was a continuing education student from 1993 to 1997.
He ignored numerous notices, from polite warnings to severe threats,
while his fines climbed to an astronomical sum.
Enough was enough, the university finally decided.
"I think the message here is: Do not mess around with the NYU
library," said university spokesman John Beckman.
Szamuely, 44, is facing charges of grand larceny and possession of
stolen property, not to mention the $31,000 tab. He was awaiting
arraignment last night.
Sam Schulman, a colleague at the New York Press, said he was stunned
by the charges. "It doesn't sound like George," Schulman said. "I just
can't believe it. I'm sure there's some confusion."
Schulman described Szamuely as intelligent and well-read. His most
recent article for the weekly blasts the United States for its
"mendacity" and "cruelty" in siding with the Kosovars over the Serbs.
An NYU library official said Szamuely's visibility at the newspaper
served only to taunt librarians, who considered him "public enemy No.
1."
"A staff member said, 'Why can't they find this guy, he's writing for
the New York Press!'" said Albert Neal, head of access services at
NYU's Bobst Library.
For staffers on the library circulation desk, Neal said, Szamuely's
arrest was a measure of vindication.
"A lot of people thought we were just blowing them off when we told
them all of these books were checked out," he said.
Neal said the books Szamuely had made up a major portion of the
library's political science collection. Many were frequently requested
classics that are out of print and hard to replace.
Police and officials at the New York Public Library couldn't recall a
similar case where a library scofflaw had been arrested.
NYU called police after it tried and failed to get the books back for
two years.
"A number of overtures were made, by mail and by phone, and it was
clear that this fellow had no intention of returning the books,"
Beckman said.