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https://theconversation.com/librarians-have-good-reasons-to-weed-books-from-their-shelves-why-is-book-removal-so-controversial-232163>
"Earlier this year, the removal of thousands of books to make room for
renovations at Melbourne’s City Library prompted an outcry. Removing the books
was “an absolute act of vandalism,” librarian Alice Bluer told
The Age.
The City of Melbourne argued the space was needed for other in-demand uses,
such as “community meetings, study and co-working”. The collection would be
“refreshed”, taking into account “community feedback and borrowing trends”.
Books not retained would be dispersed across the library network, donated or
recycled.
Such disagreements bubble up periodically in the media, whether in schools or
in national libraries. But where there are libraries, there is always
“weeding”. Librarians select books for library collections, and over time, some
of these books are deselected (or weeded) and removed.
As a practice, weeding is not quite as old as libraries. Famously, the ancient
Great Library of Alexandria strove to be a “universal library” collecting all
existing knowledge (on papyrus scrolls). But it existed in a profoundly
different time, when knowledge we take for granted was only just being
discovered.
With public libraries mandated to support literacy, recreational reading, and
free access to information, today’s librarians make decisions about removing
books amid competing pressures on their spaces and budgets. Even as libraries
increasingly collect digital publications alongside print, weeding remains
necessary.
But, as the recent Melbourne example shows, even professional librarians can
disagree when difficult choices are made. So what drives those decisions?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
