Sometimes I think that policy abdicates the trust we have in libraries. I used to check out a little-used book, published in 1881, which was a history of our local town going back to its founding. With source material from the people who slept on cloaks under a tree before the first sod was turned.
One day I looked for it, and it was gone. Probably victim to one of those book purges. And I was upset. Not that the book was valuable, and probably went for $1 at a jumble sale. But because it was irreplaceable.
If our own library will not preserve books about our own local history, then who will? How can this source material ever, ever be reconstituted again? How can anybody in charge have thought this was a good idea?
Each time someone has a "this one book" story I wonder if it wouldn't make sense for libraries to allow people to put a purge alert on books. If it gets removed, you get X days to come fetch it for a small fee.
That of course does not help if the book got transferred somewhere else/stolen/lost/destroyed instead of being intentionally purged, so people nevertheless should create and keep copies. With an 1800s book, even publishing the copy would be legal!
Different kinds of libraries have different kinds of needs. A major research library will typically keep one of anything they ever had (most of which is in high-latency offsite storage) while your local library typically has best sellers, major self-help guides and stuff supporting the high school curriculum.
Like a distinction between a consumer and professional tool.
Given that a modern library knows everything you ever checked out, it would be easy to do this automatically. As part of your regular checkout, the terminal can alert you "hey, this book you checked out last year is being withdrawn— if you're interested in purchasing it for $1, see the circulation desk."
This is actually not true. Library circulation systems actively work to purge themselves of historical transactions, at least, the few I've worked with. If anything they keep the "last patron" for a given item for some time, in case damage is reported, but beyond that there is no historical record, to eliminate the possibility of searching that data via warrant or otherwise.
Oh interesting. That actually makes a ton of sense; the institution of libraries have been around for long enough to have the historical context around that. Maybe in a few hundred years, tech companies will be so wise.
There was a Japanese novel called Library War that later got turned into a movie, TV series, and so on. The story took place in a fascinating if somewhat implausible near future where certain books were banned from the public, but libraries were exempted from the ban and could actually defend their rights under the exemption by any means necessary. This occasionally led to armed confrontations over the possession of these banned books.
In this particular case, it wouldn't be unusual if a book like that were too damaged to circulate and couldn't be replaced (if it were out of print). I think the lifetime of most books is measured in 10s of circs at most.
It was in perfect condition, with old plates in the back of farmers a century dead, and old farms long gone. A complete index of every local person enlisting during the Civil War with their entire war record. Probably such good condition because it only got checked out every 5 years or so (other than me recently, every few months).
The happy-ish ending is, I found a reprint by our local historical society from the 1970's. Without the plates. Took years of visits to local used-book shops and repeated requests to look out for a copy should one show up.
Libraries frequently have dedicated local history collections, or work with local historical societies, although not always. Generally the mission of public libraries is to provide an actively used collection of resources to serve their community, not to act as a book repository to preserve human knowledge (particularly knowledge that doesn’t circulate).
In our local system, there is one branch that is a designated book repository, and frequently keeps one copy a book that has been culled by all the other branches (and sometimes it is stored offsite, and takes a day or two to retrieve). People generally just have romantic notions about libraries (especially if they don’t really use them, but have strong opinions about what the collections should contain) that aren’t really compatible with serving the local community well.
I came to that conclusion, and quit going entirely for 10 years. I didn't need a sort of cut-rate bookstore with well-thumbed books in it - I can buy my own thank you. And not get badgered about returning them on schedule, with fines exceeding the cost of the book.
I'm not actually sure if libraries as described, are doing anything at all for most of us. You see mostly kids and the homeless (or people looking like they are homeless) wandering in there.
But now, in response to a thread about under-served poor people creating their own public lending library, you're:
1) arguing that public libraries are unneeded because you have enough money to buy your own books (and asserting that 'most of us' can similarly afford our own books, and therefore are not served by public lending libraries)
2) complaining that library collections are 'well-thumbed', while complaining that your favorite book got culled.
Sure; because I observe that most of us are not in the library. Not an argument; an observation - most people don't use it. So they either don't need it, or don't want it, or ?
And thinking changes - I used to appreciate libraries until they screwed me over, left my interests and needs behind, and became a daycare center. I don't want to read romance novels nor juvenile fiction, regardless of how well-thumbed they are.
Sounds like you have a crappy library in your town. My town's library is linked with all of the other libraries in my county. Books can be requested and shipped to my home library within a couple of days. This has lead to librarians working together and "specializing" in certain materials. All of the libraries have a good selection of popular material.
My library tends to have a larger non-fiction section than most. Another town houses a huge collection of movies. Yet another hosts a tremendous audiobook collection. A simple online request will deliver any of these materials nearby or I can wander in and browse if I'm looking for something more mainstream.
Perhaps you should consider getting more involved if your library isn't meeting your needs.
One of the big problems with maintaining public resources like libraries, public parks, public transit, etc. is that some people with money actively avoid and attack them in order to avoid associating with lower socioeconomic classes who depend on them.
I reiterate: most of us are not served. So I choose to quit going. Good for the rest of them; I harbor them no ill will. Yet I believe there are other facilities to house the homeless (I'm sure of it; my church sponsors one) and educate the young. Why warp libraries to serve this role? How can that help them justify their existence? Doing something badly that other public institutions already do?
I think that you saying you are not served by libraries is about like saying you aren't served by publically-supported vaccination. We are ALL served by having human knowledge available to ALL of us.
Unfortunately, every library cannot necessarily afford to be the best university library. That's largely a public policy issue where funding is directed elsewhere and then librarians have to perform triage to keep operating.
I do think there are interesting questions about how the information age could or should change the face of libraries. But I certainly hope it isn't by closing up shop and saying we can just use Amazon or pound sand. Something like the Google book scanning project seemed like a perfect idea for me, particularly if it went after the rare/university library scenario to have a back catalog that would not quit.
I don't feel the need to purchase every book I read just so it can sit on a shelf in my house when I'm done. So I use the public library unless it's a new release that I want to read right away.
That is an issue - my house is full of books. Which somehow I don't really mind. So not an obstacle for me.
What IS an obstacle is having to read a book on a schedule. Having available to read only new-ish books on popular subjects. Getting fined many times the cost of the book if I break the rules. Guilt when I mislay a book (I left a library book on an airplane once; the library never replaced it).
You do know you can renew a checked out book or check it out again? Checkout time for my local library is a month, and you can renew for additional month(s). Fines are 10 cents a day, and you can renew overdue books.
Guilt for losing a book? If you feel that bad just buy them another copy and donate it.
If it doesn't fit your use case that's fine, but you're over exaggerating a bit.
I put a hold on books I want on my library's website, then go pick them up when they're available. I spend less than 5 minutes inside it during a visit. I can buy books, but I just don't have the space to have a copy of any book I was or am curious about.
It really depends on what the goal of that library is; is it a museum, aimed at preservation of e.g. local history, or is it a supplier of relevant books that operates more like a shop, which tries to keep a small inventory by optimizing for most frequently borrowed? I'm guessing that you could have both, but even then, space is limited.
I'm sure - or, I'm hoping - that that particular book you mentioned is archived somewhere under museum conditions.
There's a library book shop where they flog the outgoing volumes. They either get sold in a month, or burned. Since I was the only one checking out that venerable tome, it's probably been burned.
I understand why this is upsetting, but libraries are not historical societies. The solution to this is to work with your local historical society, or create one.
Another option would be to make a connection with a local academic library (at a college or university in the area)--these often are more willing to store historical documents indefinitely.
Finally, your town or county might have a museum that would be willing to accession an historical document.
The caveat to all these is the same as for the public library: shelf space costs money, and budgets have limits. But sometimes a shift in emphasis is all you need to preserve old things and not worry about new things.
We weed according to the CREW method, which you can read about online [1]. Our first goal is material that is used, but we do have a local history collection and have some allowance in our collection for stuff that is of special interest.
EDIT: The other thing worth mentioning here is that well weeded collections are better used than poorly maintained ones. Though there is a subset of customers who want the "lived in" library, most like a continuous cycle of new and interesting content. When they see the same stuff each time they go, they stop being interested. A small public library in a town near mine still have numerous books on the OJ Simpson trial.
you are doing what libraries should be doing, especially for books they intend to throw out.
I mean, the US government has warehouses of data with the most inane things about people and then they can't manage to store books before throwing the physical copy out.
This is the job of the national library. They keep every book printed in your nation for unlimited time. In the US that seems to be the Library of Congress, so they should have the book you miss.
Does it have the plates? There is a long list of names at the end, maybe that's them.
God sometimes I love the internet. I can only imagine how hard it was to do scientific research before, when the journals were all paper and you had to get the library to search articles for you. Now it takes me a few minutes to access anything. Or most of it at least. We have to work on that.
This is probably one of the weirdest sentiments I've read in my entire life. I use the public library constantly as the place I go for quiet work and just to hang out, read, or study. And just for fun, they have lots of great events there, you can rent out meeting space for local groups/clubs. I really can't imagine not seeing the value of such a resource.
First off, like the other person said, there are literally 3 scanned copies of this book you just referenced online.[1]
Everyone has already said a lot that needs to be said, but I feel the need to point out, that a big part of being a member in your local libraries 'community served' is participating, which you can do actively at most libraries. My library now has Haskell and Clojure books on the shelves, because I actively participate in the library process. You can do this also, the library you are referencing (if I guessed correctly) has an form where you can set suggest book purchases[2], at my local library unless you are asking for something really really weird they will buy reasonable library user requests. The libraries curation is a community effort, and it won't reflect your needs if you don't make them apparent.
Also, this local library in Iowa you were referencing and most local libraries have an interlibrary loan system for people just like you who need something they don't have there. I constantly use the service at my own local library to find anything I want and have it promptly sent right there to me. You could do this also for any books that you find rare or obscure that you need for a specific purpose. I've often used the service for books that are rare and prohibitively expensive. The Worldcat listings for the book you were looking for are numerous. Even shows the copy at the local historical society you mentioned.
Library workers often check catalogues like Worldcat to see if they have the only copy of something or if something isnt archived previously prior to them throwing it out, according to the listings there are 4 microfilm versions of your book, and several listed OCR scans similar to the archive.org scans I'll assume. It is really weird of you to assume that any library would toss out a book without checking their listing against the global database.
I hope that beats the horse til its quite dead enough to illustrate, that in the modern day there are very few books that can't be found if you understand the capabilities of our library infrastructure, and most of your other points are moot. I personally love it when the local library throws away great books, it gives me the opportunity to buy them, via a little store where they monetize their toss aways to fund the library instead of recycling them, maybe suggest this setup or a library book sale to your local library?
>If our own library will not preserve books about our own local history, then who will? How can this source material ever, ever be reconstituted again? How can anybody in charge have thought this was a good idea?
Think about this the next time you see a ballot measure about cutting taxes.
Not sure that follows - they've built the library three times in my town, and every, every time at great cost and with no room for expansion. And they fill it with romance novels and juvenile fiction.
Those books are read by a subculture. Characterized by throw-away experiences and rapid turnover, who always want another book but never for long.
I argue, that's not most of us. That's kids and bored stay-at-homes.
I understand that libraries are struggling, but they've mutated by simply following a demographic into a hole. Instead of trying to be more relevant to the rest of us.
You must raelly love that one book, to have it define your entire philosophy around public libraries and the valuelessness of people who like other books.
You don't think your library keeps circulation statistics on each item and plans accordingly? It sounds an awful lot like you're personally insulted that your library caters to people who have different preferences than you.
Read it all again. Its not about preferences. Its about being a library (repository of knowledge available to all) vs just being a day-care center for a thin demographic.
There are ways to fix problems other than just throwing more money at them. A librarian is a caretaker of his library and should use his employed time to do this to the best of his ability.
One day I looked for it, and it was gone. Probably victim to one of those book purges. And I was upset. Not that the book was valuable, and probably went for $1 at a jumble sale. But because it was irreplaceable.
If our own library will not preserve books about our own local history, then who will? How can this source material ever, ever be reconstituted again? How can anybody in charge have thought this was a good idea?