Public Library Branches Saying Goodbye to Books That Don’t Circulate
Hello, Grisham — So Long, Hemingway?
Well, it seems that if books aren’t used/checked out in a specific title at the Fairfax County (VA) Public Library in twenty-four or more months, the book has a chance of getting culled from the collection of a library branch. To quote the article, “the books are being dumped.”
+ Let’s be clear. As the article points out, even if a book is being culled from one branch of the Fairfax County Library System it might be still available at another branch. So, obtaining a copy of the title from another branch would likely be easy and quick.
Nevertheless,
+ Could the books be taken to an off-site storage facility. This is something we often see with academic library materials.
+ What about new forms of space saving shelving?
+ Are these books being tossed (literally) into the garbage? If so, this is very sad, AWFUL. Why not, at the least, offer these books to other libraries who might need them to fill in their collections or to libraries wanting to expand their collections?
From the article:
“We’re being very ruthless,” said Sam Clay, director of the 21-branch system since 1982. “A book is not forever. If you have 40 feet of shelf space taken up by books on tulips and you find that only one is checked out, that’s a cost.”
+ If a book is culled from the collection (and not available at any branch), how long will it take to get the book (via ILL) if requested? Would ILL be cheaper or would it be easier, faster, and less expensive for a library to purchase a used copy?
+ One final point. What about ebooks? Yes, we will be the first to admit it’s not the same as holding a print version in your hands. However, Fairfax offers eBooks for free (from home, office, and net cafe in London) online. What is Fairfax and thousands of other libraries that provide e-books from NetLibrary/OCLC, Overdrive, ebrary*, and other sources doing to promote these services? We’ve said it a thousand times on ResourceShelf, people can’t use what they don’t know about.
Of course, it’s not only text content but also eAudiobooks.
* ebrary also offers a service (your library does NOT need to subscribe) for personal use. It’s free. Shop.ebrary.com offers the full text of over 20,000 titles. Read as much as you want online. Users only pay to print a copy of a page(s) or save a copy to the hard drive. Safari Books Online offers a subscription service (fee-based) aimed at the individual user.
Source: The Washington Post