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> 90% of libraries consist of books that are never opened. Citation required. But don't bother because it's a meaningless statistic, or at least one designed t
by mvc 2y ago
> 90% of libraries consist of books that are never opened.
Citation required. But don't bother because it's a meaningless statistic, or at least one designed to make it look like there's a lot more wastage in libraries than there actually is.
The statistic could be true, and yet still be the case that the vast majority of library books are well utilized.
- otterley 1y agoI should have been less specific than “library” as such. Libraries aren’t only institutional. Consider every book, magazine, and newspaper that sits today in everyone’s home, office, and in every institution in the world. The vast majority of them have been read once and then left on a shelf or in a box somewhere, taking up more or less valuable space.
- vel0city 1y ago> 90% of libraries consist of books that are never opened > The vast majority of them have been read once and then left on a shelf So opened at least once, with once being higher than never.
- otterley 1y agoNever opened again after the first time—which I think most readers implicitly understood. Regardless, that’s my bad.