In the communications room of the Public Safety building sits a large storage cabinet. Its neatly organized shelves and trays bear labels such as keys and I.D. cards. Keys, wallets and I.D. cards are among the most common items that make their way to the lost and found, according to Karen Smith, a Public Safety dispatcher whose responsibilities also include organizing and documenting items that have been lost and discovered. Other ownerless objects typically include eyeglasses, textbooks and articles of clothing. Once, someone turned in a wooden magazine rack that looked as if it had been made in a high school shop class.
Items enter the lost and found in several different ways.
Often, Public Safety officers find things and turn them in at the end of their shifts. Students, faculty and employees bring in things they discover in classrooms and residence halls. Frequently, people find such small items as wallets and keys and simply drop them in Campus Mail. Items often can be more easily identified, and the owner located, if we know where and when they were found. Public Safety houses the central lost and found for the campus community.