If you think libraries are staid, stuffy institutions that lack drama and intrigue, think again. The Boston Public Library reports that even after the arrest and conviction of notorious map thief, E. Forbes Smiley, III, 36 valuable maps from their collection are still on the lam. Among those suspected stolen are Samuel de Champlain’s large map of New France and several charts from William Norman’s American Pilot (1798). Items have also been reported missing from the New York Public Library, the British Library, and the Harvard and Yale University Libraries. The Massachusetts rare map dealer was arrested at Yale University’s Beineke Library after librarians began to suspect he was removing maps from valuable books with the aid of a razor blade. Incriminating evidence was later found in his pockets and briefcase. In September, Mr. Smiley was sentenced to serve 42 months in jail after he admitted to stealing 98 cartographic images from several locations across the U.S. and England.

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Janine from Philadelphia wrote: "When news of Smiley's arrest broke over a year ago, staff of the Rare Book Department searched previous reader registration cards to see whether Mr. Smiley had paid us any visits. We have no record of his visiting our deprtament, for which we are grateful. The maps in our collection would have been very much to his taste. In fact, our current exhibition contains a copy of one of the maps he removed from a book at Yale."