Weeding the Worst Library Books

Having worked in libraries for many years, weeding is a very contentious issue. Many patrons (and librarians!) have an emotional attachment to books, so to recycle them just feels wrong. Some libraries have resorted to putting their weeded books into locked dumpsters - there have been instances of patrons coming across a dumpster full of weeded books then going on a tirade against the library for "throwing away knowledge."

A lot of people don't realize the detailed process that goes into deciding to weed a book. When was it last checked out? How does it compare to other materials in the collection? How many copies of this book are available regionally, nationally? What's the monetary value of the book? Is the subject matter outdated, and if so, does it still have value? It's a very complicated process and unfortunately libraries simply aren't able to keep every book, nor should they!

As a compromise I've seen some libraries offer weeded books for very cheap or even give them away for free, which seems like a good way to please both sides.

Historically I've noticed that libraries are often terrible at distinguishing good from bad when it comes to technical books. Sorting through the books being thrown out, I've often found real classics mixed in with the likes of Learn Excel 98 In 24 Hours.

This also happens with used bookstores, but in that case the upshot is, instead, that used bookstores won't buy technical books, so they never make it onto their shelves.

Nowadays I almost entirely get my technical information online, in part because of having moved to Argentina, where there weren't very many technical books in the first place — our famous national abundance of bookstores are dedicated almost entirely to fiction and opinion, rather than knowledge in the sense of falsifiable propositions.

I recently picked up a first edition of K&R's C Programming Language my university was throwing away. I just couldn't bare to see such a thing given up, even if it's not particularly useful these days.

I don't feel like aging myself today, but for too many years I haven't quite figured out library discard policy, or buying policy.

In my local libraries, two I have been going to since I was child, there has always been huge book sections on gardening, and cooking. Just racks, and racks? I know these are popular subjects, but it just seemed like overkill.

While books on the hard sciences are lacking? I know a book on higher mathematics isn't going to be checked out often, but these libraries should buy these books for that one inquisitive person. That kid who's just interested, and might never get the chance to go to college?

I also noticed a lack of technical/trade manuals.

I don't care like I used to because I don't use the library like I used to. At one time, it was really the only way to learn how to do something.

But then again, what do I know. If I was in charge of buying, it would be floor to ceiling with just reference books.

Linux kernel is gnu89.

(that said not throwing away my copy of K&R 1st ed)