Theft
The Alliance has compiled this set of theft-related resources from throughout the nonprofit and museum sector.
Guidelines Regarding Thefts in Libraries
Association of College and Research Libraries (a division of the American Library Association) issued Guidelines Regarding Theft in Libraries. The guidelines outline ways to prevent theft and steps to take after a theft has been discovered. An appendix has a list of networking resources for protection and recovery.
Initiated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, Object ID is an international standard created to describe cultural objects so they can be identified. It was developed through the collaboration of the museum community, police and customs agencies, the art trade, and the insurance industry.
Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, works with its 181 member countries to disseminate information about stolen art. This database is the tool Interpol uses to tackle the traffic in cultural property.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) maintains a National Stolen Art File (NSAF) to assist investigators in theft cases. It is a computerized index of stolen art and cultural property as reported to the FBI by law enforcement agencies throughout the United States and internationally. The NSAF consists of images and physical descriptions of stolen and recovered objects, in addition to investigative case information. The site lists criteria for having an object entered into the NSAF.