AbstractLibraries have been serving the community since the time immemorial. In the early stage the documentary resources were very less and hence were kept in close access, even in several cases documents were kept chained with the shelves. The open access system brought with itself another problem for libraries as by-product which is called pilferage of documents. The pilferage of documents from libraries is a universal phenomenon. However, the quantum of pilferage differs from country to country. In India, this problem is being faced by almost all the libraries irrespective of their nature. The present study is an attempt to investigate the perception of students, research scholars and teachers belonging to the field of law. The results indicated that a majority of respondents perceive that humans are greedy by nature whereas less than fifty percent do not agree to this. As far as gender of the respondents is concerned, it does not have any significant effect on this issue. More than 65% respondents do not agree to the statement that pilfering of books is not a matter of prestige for men and the same respondents also do not agree that female users pilfer more books to impress their male counterparts. As much as 60% respondents disagree or strongly disagree that neither males are encouraged by their female counterparts nor females are encouraged by male counterparts to pilfer the books from the library.
Key words: Library Loss, Stock Verification, Library Stock withdrawal