God, the weeding discourses I have had where someone was saying “but this might be a book someone NEEDS!” and I was yelling “Nobody needs The Idiot’s Guide To Windows 3!”*
*One person does need this, but they probably work in Yucca Mountain and don’t go to the Baltimore library.
*One person does need this, but they probably work in Yucca Mountain and don’t go to the Baltimore library.
Comments
Late buddy's academic research library of cuneiform texts
Lots of it basically one-of-a-kind transcriptions
Schismatic department couldn't agree to give it shelf space
Best we could do was get a lot of it to a bookseller
And look, I love me a physical book, I have a lot of them, but the worth is in what it contains, and the way that contents is transferred. 1/2
*I got good at replacing plastic jackets, squirting glue down spines and using magic tape (which I'm told they don't have anymore)
We figured out how bumblebees fly! We can move forward with our body of knowledge.
90% of them were essentially useless (nobody needs a 30-year old textbook) but you couldn’t say that out loud lest you offend the senior faculty who were the worst offenders
I worked in a university library for a while, and if a faculty member passed Acquisitions would send up a heartfelt prayer for their books to be donated Somewhere Else!
I am not fussed about saying goodbye to the dead tree 2/2
Is it the last remaining copy of an ancient tale? By all means, take care of it. Is it a Reader’s Digest Condensed Edition of Moby Dick? Ima make a book safe out of it, fight me.
How about a Nice Game of Chess?
It's all down to the library's mandate. Most libraries *don't* have archival/preservation as the big flashing goal, so they need articulated (public!) guidelines about use/circulation and currency to make it clear when a title should go up for review.