Can we please stop hoarding books
Caution. This is more an opinion piece than my usual analytical piece, so I’m going to get a little judgy judgy. And if I offend some of you with my opinions then I’m sorry – but I am completely over librarians trying to justify hoarding books.
Are there any more terrifying words in a public library than …
“Come and have a look at the stacks.”
This happened to me recently as part of a review we were doing of a rural library service. I immediately said “No”. I’d already crunched the data on their collection. I knew what I was going to find out there, I’ve seen it before and I didn’t need to see it again. But they took me out anyway and I was not disappointed – a small brick building filled with bookshelves crammed with old yellowing musty books. Multiple copies of the classics, obscure Australian historical tomes, esoteric essays on copy publishing in the 1970s and children’s standards that are falling apart.
Actually. I was EXTREMELY disappointed. This is the fourth time I’ve seen this sort of behaviour in the last 12 months, in four different library services in three different states. Large library services and small. Metropolitan and regional. Come on people – enough is enough!
And out on the shelves …
3 complete shelves of James Patterson novels in a branch library with 400 members.
random annual reports of the regional development association from 1982, 1987 and 1996.
Lonely Plant Guide for Croatia 2011 sitting next to the Guide for 2022.
Dummies Guide to Excel 2008
an Encyclopedia Sofas
books lying horizontally on top of books packed so hard into the shelves that you can’t extract the one book you’re actually interested in
etc.
When the APLA/ALIA Standards and Guidelines for Australian Public Libraries were updated in 2020 the standard on the recommended number of collection items per capita (S5) had a sliding scale to recognise the fact that libraries serving large populations could realise efficiencies in their collection that a library with a smaller catchment could not. For every community deserves access to a varied collection of material for people of all ages and interests (see my Blog piece from 2020 https://www.analibraryse.com/blog/what-is-the-right-sized-library-collection). But the standard ‘max’s out at 2.0 items per capita for library services with a population less than 20,000, below which I think you need to use reasonable judgment, for ultimately the community comes first.
However, none of the library services I’m talking about have populations less than 20,000, more 50-150,000. Yet we’re looking at collection ratios of 2.5 to 3.5 items per capita, 30-40% above the national standard. Most of those books are on the shelves, some are out the back in the stacks, and many have not been borrowed for more than 10-20 years. We know - because we took them off the shelves and got a staff member to check.
The arguments for carrying a greatly over-sized collection are always the same.
“I love books.” I love books too, but …
“What if somebody wants it.” It hasn’t been borrowed in 20 years. Read the room.
“It’s the last copy in Victoria/NSW/insert state here.” Actually it’s not – I checked on Trove. Apart from which, you’re a public library, not a repository library and not the State or National Library.
“It was left to us in a bequest.” Nah. You accept the bequests which are of significant local or historical interest. You don’t blindly accept the boxes of books that got cleaned out from Nan’s place when she moved into the home.
“It’s what our community wants.” See earlier response. It hasn’t been borrowed in 20 years.
“We can’t throw it out. We’re a library.”
At which point I know I’m fighting a losing battle. Because let’s face it – I can’t argue with the fact that a collection is central to the concept of a library. But it’s not the only thing that’s important in a library. [And while I’m here can I make a shout out to The Connection at Canada Bay in Sydney which is an amazing library with no physical collection.]
When we come to this moment I feel forced to get all pedantic. You’re a public library. Your responsibility is not to accumulate a collection. It is to curate a collection for your community. And the definition of ‘curation’ is …
“the selection and care of objects to … form part of a collection.” (Cambridge Dictionary)
Two critical words – ‘selection and care’.
When I read ‘selection’ I believe there is an implicit reference to de-selection, choosing what you have and what you don’t have, and what you keep and what you don’t.
When I read ‘care’ I believe you can love a book (and I truly do – I have my own collection at home), but you also need to look after it, make sure it has a useful life (by being discoverable, borrowed and read), and finally recognise that at some point you have to let it go.
In the end, the bit that pains me most about libraries hoarding books is that they are doing their community – and their collection – a great disservice. It’s wonderful to hear an avid reader say “You’ve got us a new collection” after a library’s intensive effort to weed their collection. It’s sad when you know those books were there all along, they were just buried in the mire and not allowed to shine.
There is a time and a place for all stories. I’m not advocating throwing out all the books written more than 10 years ago, or published more than 5 years ago. But if it hasn’t been borrowed in a long time does anyone really want it. If a book is falling apart from over-use it should be replaced. Don’t hang on to multiple copies of old stock – have just one and move it around on demand.
What I am really saying to my library colleagues and friends is that as a public library your primary allegiance is to your community, not to the book – and delivering the collection that your community deserves does not mean holding on to every book you can get your hands on. It means making good choices for your community.
That’s it. Down off my soap box.
Note: Every Collection Development Policy I’ve ever read talks about the process of selection and de-selection, weeding, discards, etc. So how does a collection get to the point where it’s 30-40% over-sized? Just saying.