CCAC’s push to sell off library books leaves empty shelves; Pittsburgh's Public Source, May 5, 2026

Jamese Platt, Pittsburgh's Public Source ; CCAC’s push to sell off library books leaves empty shelves

This year the Community College of Allegheny County culled around 30,000 books from its collection, and library staff claim they had little say. Experts say academic book weeding should be a careful, gradual process.

"The Community College of Allegheny County has culled 35,000 books from its library collection. Some library staff members said they never received a clear explanation for the large and fast-paced “book weeding” — a common process in libraries, but one usually done gradually, according to some library management professionals.

On March 10, CCAC’s website announced an upcoming book sale taking place for one week across the college’s main and branch campuses. Books, DVDs and CDs were available for $1, with proceeds supporting a textbook fund for CCAC students.

“New media, such as electronic media including databases, e-texts and streaming media are in higher demand now as sources of information in community college libraries,” wrote Stephen Wells, CCAC’s provost and chief academic officer, in response to questions from Pittsburgh’s Public Source. “We are shifting resources to provide the resources our students need...

Bryanna Biehl, a CCAC student studying microbiology, worked as a volunteer during the book sale. She said she feels conflicted about the current state of the library. While she found the book sale enjoyable and was glad to increase her book collection, empty shelves on the Boyce Campus in Monroeville upset her. 

“Seeing it after the sale, it’s kind of heartbreaking,” Biehl said. “I frequent the library a lot. I would like a physical space to read … That’s what you expect when you go to the library, but seeing all those empty shelves that used to be full of books, it sucks as a student, as a reader, really.”

According to Jenkins, what remains of the CCAC libraries is a skeleton of its former self. “We don’t really have a real collection,” he said. “The damage that has been done, you can’t heal that.”

Threats to Library Funding End With Settlement by Trump Administration; The New York Times, April 13, 2026

Jennifer Schuessler , The New York Times; Threats to Library Funding End With Settlement by Trump Administration

"The Trump administration has reached a settlement with the American Library Association and a union of cultural workers, bringing to an end its yearlong effort to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency.

The settlement, reached by the Justice Department last week, affirms that the agency will continue issuing grants and operating its programs, which provide support to institutions in every state and territory. The Trump administration reaffirmed that it had reinstated all previously canceled grants, in keeping with a separate legal ruling last year, and reversed all staff reductions. It also promised not to take any further steps to reduce the agency.

Sam Helmick, the president of the American Library Association, said the threats had set off “a chain reaction” of cuts in services and called the settlement a victory for “every American’s freedom to read and learn.”

“This settlement protects life-changing library services for communities across the country,” Helmick said."