Book 'em: Three fired for allegedly stealing from Free Library

THREE LIBRARY assistants at the Free Library of Philadelphia will be fired and two managers are in hot water after an audit by the Inspector General's Office found that the assistants embezzled more than $9,000 in overdue-book fines, officials said Monday.

After an investigation found inconsistent, missing and incomplete financial records at three library branches, the office determined that Natalie Collins (Haddington branch), Linda Robinson (Kingsessing branch) and Patricia Finley (Wyoming branch in Feltonville) allegedly stole fees from the library totaling $9,054.47 in separate schemes from May 2009 to November 2010.

City officials said in a statement Monday that the Free Library's president and chief executive, Siobhan Reardon, accepted Inspector General Amy Kurland's recommendation to fire all three employees and discipline two former branch managers under whose watch the schemes took place. One of the former managers will be suspended, and the other will be demoted.

The office also recommended policy changes to the way the Free Library processes payments, many of which officials said have already been adopted.