RBMS Security Committee: State Laws: New Hampshire

The RBMS Security Committee attempts to maintain a current list of statutes from each of the fifty states pertaining to library thefts or other criminal acts involving library and archival materials (view index). Following are the relevant laws for the state of New Hampshire:

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New Hampshire Statutes Chapter 202-A: Public Libraries

Section 202-A:24. Offenses Against Libraries.

Any person who shall wilfully or maliciously deface, damage or destroy any property belonging to or in the care of any gallery or museum or any state, public, school, college, or other institutional library, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Any such person shall forfeit to or for the use of such library, gallery, or museum, 3 times the amount of the damage sustained, to be recovered in an action in the superior court.

Section 202-A:25. Detaining Books.

Any person who willfully detains any book, newspaper, magazine, manuscript, pamphlet, publication, recording, film, or other property belonging to or in the care of any gallery or museum of any state, public, school, college, or other institutional library, may be given written notice to return it, which shall bear upon its face a copy of this section, mailed by certified mail to such person's last address or delivered by a person designated by the lawful custodian of such property; and if such person shall thereafter willfully and knowingly fail to return such property within 15 days after such notice, the person shall be guilty of a violation.

See New Hampshire statutes online at: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/indexes/default.asp.

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