Last October, the Rare Books and Manuscript Section (RBMS) and the Map and Geography Roundtable (MAGERT) of the American Library Association passed a resolution commending booksellers, auction houses and map dealers for their assistance in recovering stolen maps. “Their efforts made possible the recent recovery of materials stolen from Yale University, Harvard University, the Boston Public Library, the Newberry Library, the New York Public Library, and other institutions by E. Forbes Smiley, and from the University of Texas at Austin by Mimi Meyer.” It’s a minor point, and by now a dated one, but when so much attention is focused on the map thieves themselves, and the security and other problems that allow them to get away with what they do, it’s never a bad thing to balance the scales once in a while. Via MAPS-L.