I was dumb founded. I pressed further as is my right as a member of the community, and discovered that the library has a practice of buying 10-20 copies of a single new best seller so patrons can check them out immediately. Then when checkouts slow they are thrown in the donation bin. Now I am not an expert on business but buying 20 hardcover copies and then dumping 18 of them in a room where they can merely be picked over by people does not make sense. So not only is the library buying dozens if not hundreds of books and then practically giving them away they are also getting rid of books worth money and containing truly important knowledge.
(Interruption: My one exception to this rule is with kid books. BUY ALL THE KID BOOKS! Kid books are massively expensive and the more that kids read the better. Just please donate them to schools in need or students learning to read in 3rd world countries after instead of putting them in the booksale room. If the library donated their lightly used books to children who might not have ever owned a book before I would at least feel I was doing a good deed for education.)
I admittedly was a bit of a handful after being so flabbergasted and was informed in a rather annoyed tone that the library's function was to serve the needs and desires of the community. Other more important University libraries were there to garner knowledge. Which leads me to my current conundrum
Are libraries there to provide disposable paperbacks and latte's to the community or do they have an obligation to also house rare and informative books in addition to having the newest Nora Robert's thriller?
My gut says yes to both. Libraries have a duty to not only provide what library patrons want and what they don't realize they want. During my time at school, the university library was a source of infinite wonder and exploration. I read things I didn't even realize I wanted to read because I happened upon them. At the same time I also took advantage of some really interesting library programming on a variety of different subjects such as art, science, and music.
Sound like I am contradicting myself? Well I suppose I am and I am not. Let me clarify a little.
The library's function is to serve the community's literacy needs. This means providing access to internet and to books, magazines, newspapers, and other media. My gripe with my local library is that they are disposing of vast quantities of 'unpopular' items like non-fiction, classical music, and reference books but not replacing them with other items in the same category. For example, if my library were to dispose of a 1960s text on lunar geology (unless it was signed by my favorite NASA scientist, Farouk El-Baz of course) and replace it with say a new 2015 book by Neil deGrasse Tyson that would be fine. Actually that would be great because it would have a more accurate version of the knowledge contained in the original book. However, instead of replacing the book they are merely removing the topic from the library.
This is where my anger stems from.
I've heard several people give the argument that the internet is replacing the need for this sort of information in libraries, but I'm not sure. Call me old fashioned but what happens when the library inevitably gets hacked and all the 'information' is lost because it is all digital data? Are books fool proof? No, but I feel a lot safer having my information in multiple format, including one I can access without electricity.
I'm writing the conclusion to this post two weeks after initially writing it. My temper has had time to cool a bit, but I'm still concerned about what happens when libraries get rid of books. Yes, you can look for things on the internet, but you can't meander about it in the same way you can be surprised by a tome on a shelf. But I am curious to hear what others have to say on the matter.
So do you think libraries are there to be community service facilities? Or are they also obligated to be a place where people can explore and learn from the media on their shelves without any goal other than enjoyment?