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Libraries aren't hurting for donations of classics, they are destroying the ones they already have. I've seen for myself what happens to donations of classics:

Libraries aren't hurting for donations of classics, they are destroying the ones they already have. I've seen for myself what happens to donations of classics: they go to the book sale and then get pulped or trashed. https://www.cracked.com/article_19453_6-reasons-were-in-another-book-burning-period-in-history.html https://www.cracked.com/article_19453_6-reasons-were-in-anot... > Imagine holding a beautiful, dusty, illustrated volume of Shakespeare printed in the 1700s, a calligraphic message from its long-dead owner inscribed on the inside cover, and throwing it straight in the trash. I've been there, more than once. I could have kept it and maybe gotten a few hundred dollars for it on eBay, if my supervisor wasn't watching with specific orders to prevent me from doing that. And again I want to be clear that obviously we aren't hurting for copies of Shakespeare, even though this example is a little sad. It's more niche works that are being erased from human knowledge altogether.

Retric 4y ago
Libraries have always curated their collections, someone is always going to disagree with what was trashed, but that’s what the library of congress is for not various independent institutions. So no this isn’t removing knowledge from human memory. That article is extremely slanted, but it’s hardly describing some new phenomena. Library shelf space isn’t free and people keep printing new books. Similarly libraries need to do renovations etc. With ~125,000 libraries in the US alone some will be vastly worse than average no matter what your criteria are. So if you expect all libraries to save thousands of old boy’s life magazine from the 50’s they are going to need to give something else up or you’re going to need to write a huge check with some stipulations. The same is true of books from the 1700’s, there wasn’t any particular value to the books that were trashed even if a few where more memorable.
- Amezarak 4y ago
  We're not talking about old Boy's Life magazines, we're talking about works on local history or niche scientific or technical subjects that were never widely published, where a few public libraries hold what may be the last remaining copies. There is no reason to destroy these away to make room for Biden or Trump's latest ghostwritten memoir or the latest Grishau novel. At any rate, I do not see any reason to publicly fund the sort of institution you seem to envision. The public can entertain themselves on their own dime.
  - Retric 4y ago
    Clearly they don’t need to remove 100,000 books to have room for Biden or Trump’s latest ghostwritten novel. Politics and recent works should have some reserved space, but they can keep swapping it out military books from a decade ago. Dumping 100k books is what you do when renovating space for computers used by the poor to do research or access basic functions of government that have moved online is exactly the kind of things libraries should be doing. Similarly Inter Library Loans are perfect for outdated scientific, technical manuals, or other extremely niche books. If one person in an entire state might check it out per decade then there’s little reason to clog hundreds of libraries with copies. The inter library loan system is a very effective cost saving measure that also improves people’s access to information. It’s not like people have stopped publishing local history books. Libraries need room for new local books just as they need room for new everything else.
    - Amezarak 4y ago
      These books are being wiped out from the entire ILL system, not just your local library.
      - Retric 4y ago
        Not all 100k books mentioned. But there’s nuance here. Keeping every single printing of Shakespeare’s plays in the ILL system has minimal value. Similarly the point of local libraries isn’t to archive all knowledge some stuff is going to be trashed.
        Amezarak 4y ago
        Once again nobody is complaining they can’t get every edition of Shakespeare. The issue is they can’t get any copy of say, Plutarch outside of ILL, and complete copies of such things as the Golden Bough are unavailable even there, and the self-published book high schoolers wrote 50 years ago that documented local history that was not available anywhere else was destroyed. You are describing how mostly collections should work. They don’t work that way. They work in about the worst way you can possibly imagine. They are in fact junking valuable books for ghostwritten dreck that will itself be thrown away soon.

Retric 4y ago

Libraries have always curated their collections, someone is always going to disagree with what was trashed, but that’s what the library of congress is for not various independent institutions. So no this isn’t removing knowledge from human memory. That article is extremely slanted, but it’s hardly describing some new phenomena. Library shelf space isn’t free and people keep printing new books. Similarly libraries need to do renovations etc. With ~125,000 libraries in the US alone some will be vastly worse than average no matter what your criteria are. So if you expect all libraries to save thousands of old boy’s life magazine from the 50’s they are going to need to give something else up or you’re going to need to write a huge check with some stipulations. The same is true of books from the 1700’s, there wasn’t any particular value to the books that were trashed even if a few where more memorable.

Amezarak 4y ago
We're not talking about old Boy's Life magazines, we're talking about works on local history or niche scientific or technical subjects that were never widely published, where a few public libraries hold what may be the last remaining copies. There is no reason to destroy these away to make room for Biden or Trump's latest ghostwritten memoir or the latest Grishau novel. At any rate, I do not see any reason to publicly fund the sort of institution you seem to envision. The public can entertain themselves on their own dime.
- Retric 4y ago
  Clearly they don’t need to remove 100,000 books to have room for Biden or Trump’s latest ghostwritten novel. Politics and recent works should have some reserved space, but they can keep swapping it out military books from a decade ago. Dumping 100k books is what you do when renovating space for computers used by the poor to do research or access basic functions of government that have moved online is exactly the kind of things libraries should be doing. Similarly Inter Library Loans are perfect for outdated scientific, technical manuals, or other extremely niche books. If one person in an entire state might check it out per decade then there’s little reason to clog hundreds of libraries with copies. The inter library loan system is a very effective cost saving measure that also improves people’s access to information. It’s not like people have stopped publishing local history books. Libraries need room for new local books just as they need room for new everything else.
  - Amezarak 4y ago
    These books are being wiped out from the entire ILL system, not just your local library.
    - Retric 4y ago
      Not all 100k books mentioned. But there’s nuance here. Keeping every single printing of Shakespeare’s plays in the ILL system has minimal value. Similarly the point of local libraries isn’t to archive all knowledge some stuff is going to be trashed.
      - Amezarak 4y ago
        Once again nobody is complaining they can’t get every edition of Shakespeare. The issue is they can’t get any copy of say, Plutarch outside of ILL, and complete copies of such things as the Golden Bough are unavailable even there, and the self-published book high schoolers wrote 50 years ago that documented local history that was not available anywhere else was destroyed. You are describing how mostly collections should work. They don’t work that way. They work in about the worst way you can possibly imagine. They are in fact junking valuable books for ghostwritten dreck that will itself be thrown away soon.