You may find it useful to visit the following website for the guidelines issued by the Government of India on this issue. Unless it is proved that the loss of books is due to the dishonestry or negligence on the part of the librarian, it is unfair and unreasonable to penalise the librarian. http://www.kkbooks.com/ Click Conversion Rate Link at the top. Loss of three volumes per one thousand volumes issued/consulted in a year may be taken as reasonable provided such loss cannot be attributed to dishonesty or negligence on the part of the Librarian. Loss of a book of the value exceeding Rs.200/- (Rupees two hundred) and the books of special nature and rarity shall invaribly be investigated and consequential action taken. All such losses will, however, be written off only by a competent authority. T.V. Prafulla Chandra Senior Editor --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NISC Export Services Pvt. Ltd. (an affiliate of NISC International, Inc. USA) S-1 Ballad Estates, St.Ann's School Road, Tarnaka, Hyderabad 500 017 Andhra Pradesh, India - Tel:+91 40 27001517 Tel/Fax:+91 40 27002538 WWW.NISC.COM A company in service to NISC worldwide. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------