When police officers walked into Carol Anne Van Swearingen's home this week they said they couldn't believe what they saw: garbage bags filled with videotapes, art prints crowding the walls and boxes of books everywhere.

Van Swearingen, who worked for the suburban Upper Arlington Public Library for 37 years, allegedly had been taking books, magazines, video tapes and art prints, with an estimated worth totaling between $30,000 and $50,000, for at least 20 years."You name the book and we've got it," Detective Jim Rothwell told the Columbus Dispatch. "I could not believe what I was looking at. Nobody had any idea it was this many. The library people thought we'd find maybe 10 or 20 books."

Officials said Friday they were still in the process of inventorying the items, but one officer told UPI more than 1,000 books, in addition to hundreds of other items, were taken from the library.

Van Swearingen, who signed a confession, faces charges of grand theft, a third-degree felony.

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The 51-year-old Van Swearingen worked at the library since she was 14-years-old. She held the position of library associate, the highest possible job without having a library degree.

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