Anonymous Patron writes “Looks like someone else discovered books don’t last forever”.
Here’s A Report on a guy who found hundreds of books from Duval County libraries in a dumpster behind the Southeast Regional Library branch of the Jacksonville (FL) library system.
While a library spokeswoman says the books may be damaged or out of date, a Jacksonville man, Earl Willoughby, says it’s a waste of taxpayer money and insists that the books could have been donated, or sold at a cheap price.
There’s also a pretty good five-minute video report from this FOX TV station showing the condition of the books and Mr. Willoghby’s dismay at their having been dumped.
Man….
I know most Librarians fully buy into the weeding philosophy. And yes, some books are too damaged to be put on the shelves…
But it’d be in your best interest to put those books in the Friends of the Library booksale, and then to stamp them as ‘Free’ (preferably with a bookcrossing stamp on the upper right corner, so they can’t be resold to a used bookstore), and then – only then – dump the remainder in the trash. You can then tell all comers, that you attempted to return value to the library, and you attempted to return value to the community. And everyone had a shot at it.
I know I’d’ve liked to be on the list to bid on some library books I’ve used in the past, that have since disappeared from the shelves…
— Ender, Duke_of_URL
Re:Man….
We’ve had patrons ask us if we’ll do this for them, and have always said no. Because if we do it for one person, we’d need to do it for everyone. We don’t have time to keep track of that, and we have a hard enough time finding enough volunteers to help with book sales. But, if they are not literally falling apart, mold-free, or bug-infested, they go to the sale.
As for dumpsterizing….I think we had this discussion recently….the cost of staff time to evaluate and process v. any profit that might be gained from books that there’s a good chance won’t sell. Always a tough story to tell and hear.
Re:Man….
You can’t do it for everyone, but could the patrons do it for themselves? Just as a patron puts themselves on the reserve list by typing in their barcode, they could put themselves on the “I want this book if it is ever removed” list. When the book is run under the scanner to be discarded, a message can pop up that there is a “want list” for the book and it is set aside, and the list printed. The first person on the list gets the book, if they don’t want it, go to the next person. This could be a feature written by the automation vendor and installed as an update. If there is concern about staff time to do this, have the Friends do it, possibly as part of the booksale. This would require disclaimers to the effect of “when and IF this book is ever discarded” and “you might not be the first on the list” and “it won’t be the most up to date info by the time you get it”, etc.
Ongoing debate
Here is the debate that we had just a few months ago.
Re:Man….
Hmm…that’s an interesting idea. You could add something in the “notes” field, in lieu of a specific message. But, as for Friends, they might balk at having one more piece of sorting to do–they’re always scrambling for volunteers to just get the material out. But, thanks for offering a potential solution!
another solution
Make sure the books don’t go into the dumpster until just before the garbage pick up time. That should cut down on folks dumpster diving and finding things you don’t want them to find.
When I want to get rid of things that I think some staff might be upset about my getting rid of, I make sure I dump the stuff when people are in class. Or I give it to the day porter when she’s in the library to clean up and she takes it away for me. Nothing I’ve ever gotten rid of in this manner has ever been missed. For discarded/weeded books I DO have a used book sale after my spring bookfair.
Stealth is important.
Maybe not so rare
I remember back in the halcyon days of my youth, working as a page, I had to throw the occasional box of books in the dumpster. I always had to do it when the library was closed and make sure no one was around to see it, and the box had to be securely sealed with no clue that there were books inside. Then we contracted with a recycler to discreetely pick up the boxes once a month. It was sad to see books get tossed but some of our donations and discards were either in terrible shape or just completely useless (how many sets of National Geographic do you need?!?).
Re:Maybe not so rare
Some books should not be sold or even given away. They may depict minorities and women in a dated, stereotypical light, or contain outdated and dangerous information.
Old, worn books valuable
I went to the main downtown banch of the Jacksonville (Florida) Public Library today and discovered many shelves contained only a few books. In some sections, the shelves were more empty than full. I spoke with a man at the desk in the basement and he flippantly replied, “Maybe they’re all checked out!” I told him this was a ridiculous answer and he then conceded some of the books may have been discarded because they hadn’t “been checked out in a long time.â€? When I asked him how this determination was made, he said, “We have people go through the shelves and if a book hasn’t been checked out in three years, it’s removed.â€? I did not ask how such a determination could be made by going through the shelves now that the “due dateâ€? is no longer indicated on the book itself but rather on a computer-generated slip of paper.
There was a particular book, by Charles Skinner, written in the late 1800s, that I, personally, had checked out on several occasions and know others who also checked it out, yet, it is gone. A year or so ago, a copy of this book sold for in excess of $300.00 on a used book website.
I looked for another old book on New Hampshire on the main floor of the library, but where there had been an entire shelf of books on New Hampshire in the past, today, there were only three or four. I checked out the book I was looking for as recently as January 2005.
In the past, a friend of mine volunteered at the San Marco Library (before the new library opened) and later at Regency (the library where the patron found the dumpster full of discarded books). She told me books were routinely thrown out to make space for new ones without regard for how often the book was checked out or its condition. On two or three occasions, she brought home discarded books from San Marco and Regency. I purchased several from her and she sold 30 or 40 others on ebay and made $480.00. The majority of the books she rescued were in good condition and were checked out often. Yet, they were discarded. Why?
It is a shame and disgrace to throw out library books, regardless of their condition. Someone would take them. I have found the best, and most factual, information is often in older books.
Just because a book is old or worn does not render it useless. If you believe it does, check out a few used book websites where old, worn books, some with torn pages and missing covers, sell for hundreds of dollars.