Library weeding policies good for collectors bad for thefuture?

Yup. De-accessing is accelerating both in
local libraries here on Long Island--most
librarians claim more or less rightly that
thenumber one reason is lack of space, and that, of course, caused by
reallocation
of book space to media and computer rooms, and by "taxpayer
revolts"--and in
State University libraries. I know for a fact that Farmingdale State,
despite ardent
pleas by librarians, has been denied new
book money for two years and has been
forced to de-acc because a large room
previously pledged to books has been
turned into a sort of Starbucks, and this
by a generally forward-looking local
administration. Sure, this sort of thing
will allow private collectors to stuff their
own shelves with assorted goodies (I
rescued literally dozens of the several thousand de-accs left in
dumpsters at
Farmingdale) but scarce runs of speciaized magazines, earlier studies
in rapidly evolving fields, and individual
largely ignored special interest books
are being pulped daily.
And no, not all, or even most of
this information, recreation and delectation is now available on the
web.
O tempera, o morons!
--Dave Conford

The Democratic governor of this state withheld critical funding from our
library budget not so long ago; space is at a premium and local governments do
not want to commit to enlargement or new building. Now that we are in an
election year, however, he has found a "surplus" ! I wish we could have our
withheld funds out of that ! So our libraries get rid of books that really
should be kept but there is no shelf room.

The Democratic governor of this state withheld critical funding from our
library budget not so long ago; space is at a premium and local governments
do
not want to commit to enlargement or new building. Now that we are in an
election year, however, he has found a "surplus" ! I wish we could have our
withheld funds out of that ! So our libraries get rid of books that really
should be kept but there is no shelf room.

I think that this "weeding" is a common occurance in many localities, including
the one I live in (Illinois). I recently assumed the responsibility for
overseeing our FOL bookstore, which also means I deal with the books which the
library staff has chosen to let go.
You are correct in that weeding out books due to lack of space is good for
collectors, assuming they are in the right spot at the right time. They can
find some very good books at very low prices! And if they are not concerned
with having "withdrawn" and other library stamps/pockets on their books, so
much the better. At our library they can even find non-exlib books for sale as
we have too many (currently 3,000+) to sell and have to make room somehow.
The flip side of this is that many of the books chosen for weeding are on their
last legs, and should not be taking up shelf space. I have come across first
editions of very collectable books which I would not touch for even $1 because
they are in such bad shape. Also, many of these books have little if any
interest for readers, as evidenced by their low "checkout" records. Many of
these are titles donated by publishers which would not even make it on a
remainder table.
So, there are good and bad sides to weeding. If you are having to get rid of
titles which still have a good demand, then you are right that this is a shame.
But I have yet to see any library which could hold all of the books people
would like to see.
Les

In article ,
(BookEditions) writes:

I think that this "weeding" is a common occurance in many localities,
including
the one I live in (Illinois).


there are even books on the correct way to weed,
what years to remove non-fiction, and childrens books, etc


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