Showing posts with label deaccessioning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label deaccessioning. Show all posts

Thursday, May 17, 2018

The tragedy of ‘deaccessioning’ books from university libraries; ABA Journal, May 2018

Bryan A. Garner, ABA Journal; The tragedy of ‘deaccessioning’ books from university libraries

"Book research is well-nigh irreplaceable to the skillful researcher. It can’t, and shouldn’t, be fully superseded by online research, which of course has its own splendors but also its own limitations.

So it’s disheartening to hear what’s happening to our libraries. A lead Associated Press article on Feb. 7 reports that “as students abandon the stacks in favor of online reference material, university libraries are unloading millions of unread volumes in a nationwide purge.” Some books are being hauled off to permanent storage sites; others are being sold en bloc to used-book dealers; and still others are being thrown into dumpsters.


Given that half the library collection at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania has been “uncirculated for 20 years or more,” university administrators decided to purge 170,000 volumes. “Bookshelves are making way for group-study rooms and tutoring centers, ‘makerspaces’ and coffee shops,” the article reports. Oregon State University librarian Cheryl Middleton, president of the Association of College and Research Libraries, is quoted as saying, “We’re kind of like the living room of the campus. We’re not just a warehouse.”

Traditional scholars are outraged. One calls this jettisoning of books “a knife through the heart.” He’s right, of course."