11 Jan 2012 6 Comments
Library Rant: Why libraries click the delete button on books
We all enjoy the fabulous book sales libraries have from time to time, right? I thought so. I love those awesome sales myself. Most of the books on our for sale racks come from donations that we are unable to use, but a portion come from weeding our collection. So how do we decide what stays and what goes? We try to follow the basic weeding guidelines. Weeding is a weird term – kinda makes me think of gardening – LOL. Anyhoo, here are the guidelines we use:
1. Last date of circulation – If it isn’t moving, we don’t need it collecting dust.
2. Physical condition – Who wants to check out a filthy looking book with no-telling-what smeared on the pages? Yuck!
3. Out-of-Date – Nobody wants to get financial advice from a 10-year-old finance book, right?
4. Duplicates – In some cases we overlook duplicates (ex-Twilight Series, Harry Potter) but usually, when the craze ends, the extras go away.
Like I said, we keep it super simple. My library is very small and our collection is roughly around 30,000 items, give or take, so we have to weed regularly to make room for all of the exciting new titles coming our way.With three regular employees, keeping the shelves top-notch takes up most of our time. Today we came across a book that hasn’t circulated in 3 years and had been chewed to hell and back. I was livid, to say the least. If it hasn’t been checked out, how the hell did it get damaged? It’s not like we have a book-hating dog roaming the isles looking for a steamy romance to chew on, unless I missed the memo. LOL So, of course, we deleted said book and moved on. But it still ticks me off that we have people taking books off the shelf, stuffing them in their bags, and taking off like bandits with our books.
Gosh! I think my blood pressure is spiking. I’ve managed to catch a kid working so very hard at peeling our stickers off of a book before, too. Only to have him come back a few days later and try to walk out the door with a mythology book, for reasons that escape me. Could it have been the illustrations of bare-breasted women that attracted him? Who knows. I’m just curious as to what drives people to take what libraries offer for free. I mean, getting a library card is simple and FREE, for goodness sake. I must scare the hell out of people or something, sitting at my desk in the back and staring out at the front desk. HA HA
What do you guys think? Am I crazy or is the library world just that darn exciting?
Jan 12, 2012 @ 14:34:58
Definitely not crazy. A friend of mine is a librarian, and the stories she tells me of the many varied ways people abuse books and libraries on a regular basis just astounds me. Beyond book theft, they’ve had issues with people abandoning their children at their branch, figuring that since librarians are government employees, they’d take care of all the paperwork. Then there are the people who become…overly amorous, shall we say, in the stacks or in the bathroom. Or the transients who use the bathrooms to wash up every morning. And then there was the naked guy returning videos at the book drop…
Hats off to those who willingly put themselves in the face of customer ridiculousness.
Smiles!
Lori
Jan 12, 2012 @ 20:37:36
HA HA I haven’t had naked peeps…not yet anyway but we do have peeps urinate everywhere in the bathroom besides the toilet. So annoying! Now that I’ve actually let the words leave my mouth about naked peeps it will happen. LOL Seems to be my luck these days.
Jan 12, 2012 @ 15:09:18
I’m a volunteer at my local library (in Memphis), and we have had SO many books stolen. Everything from manga/graphic novels to romance, to test guides. I don’t get it at all. Plus an alarm is supposed to go off if someone goes out with a book that hasn’t been demagnetized, so I don’t even know how they do it. It makes my blood pressure rise too lol.
Jan 12, 2012 @ 20:41:40
I’d kill for a good volunteer. Heck a regular one would be great. LOL. I think that book theft is something every library deals with but it’s just insanely annoying. I wish our budget could allow us to protect our collection like your library. In the end if someone wants the item bad enough they will find a way.
Jan 14, 2012 @ 01:32:33
I think parents should watch their children
Although parents can be just as bad some time. I do sort of wish libraries didn’t cull as much. It seems like the shelves are filled with newer popular book and the older, but still good books go the way of the dodo bird.
Jan 14, 2012 @ 10:48:43
I wish we didn’t have to weed as often as we do as well. The limited amount of space we have is the number one reason we can’t avoid it. It really sucks to see titles get outed when someone might have an interest in it later.