Like libraries everywhere PVLD has limited physical space and a myriad of demands for that space...with one of the biggest demands being the need to house all of the books, magazines, newspapers, CDs, DVDs, and even audio- and video-tape items in our collection.
With limited space and a constant influx of newly purchased items, the librarians are constantly "weeding" the collection of older items to make space for new ones.
We, like many other libraries, are also finding that in this era of downloadable and streaming e-books, audio, and video the demand for physical items is trending downwards, while the demand for space for people in the library is growing.
Taken together, these factors mean that each month we remove a large number of items from the library collection - over 5,000 in September alone. The decision to remove a book is never easy and we take a number of factors into consideration including its age, how recently it has circulated, whether it is a "classic" or the only available copy in ourlibrary or in our region, its condition, etc.
Once a book is removed we make every effort to dispose of it responsibly. Those that are in very bad condition sent straight to the recycle bin, but most are sent to the Peninsula Friends of the Library for their book sales. Those that can't be sold individually (and the market for used library books with their stickers, labels, and stamps isn't as big as you might think!) may be sold in bulk to the film industry for movie sets, to interior decorators seeking books with a certain "look", or to dealers. The remainder are often donated - they have gone to schools in needy areas, shelters for the homeless or battered women, the county jail, military hospitals, the local Boys and Girls Club, and many other places. After all of these avenues are exhausted a book in reasonable condition still may end up in the recycle bin...and when a member of the public discovers that we are "throwing away books" all h&*!&@ can break loose!
Deciding which books get removed from the library, and then deciding how to dispose of them, is one of those aspects of library operations that most people don't think about, so it was refreshing to find this article on the National Public Radio blog. It's a pretty good overview of the process many libraries go through in managing their collections.
The NPR post makes reference to this article from Cracked.com which is a bit more pointed and a bit less representative of how PVLD handles disposing of books, but is a succinct articulation of the challenges nonetheless.
I think most librarians feel that every book has value, and "getting rid of" any book is not easy, but making those hard choices is part of keeping our libraries and what they contain relevent to our communities...so we do the best we can to keep the things that should be kept, responsibly dispose of those that can't, and balance all of the competing needs for our physical spaces. In the process do some books get destroyed forever? The answer is yes....but what is the alternative? To become a mausoleum for books? I doubt our comunities will continue to invest in public libraries if that is what we are.
How would you handle this dilemma?
Weed on!
Posted by: Fran W. | October 12, 2011 at 12:42 PM