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Weeding the Worst Library Books

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Re: Weeding the Worst Library Books

#41

Post by mariodiana »

mturmon wrote: post #7

Reminded me of this old article about profiting by sniping the most valuable books being deaccessioned: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2010/10/confes...

The subtitle reads: "I spend 80 hours a week trawling junk shops with a laser scanner. I don't feel good about it."

I had the bright idea a few years back to give this a try. I went to a couple of library sales, scanning books and eyeballing others. I came away with a few books that I could have made a 5-10 dollar profit on. But I came away with something more valuable than that.

I looked at the other people at the sale doing the same thing I was, because there were several of them. Call me prejudiced, but here was my take. They seemed like older, retired guys who were probably earning a pension or collecting social security, and basically out and about doing this "job" just so that they could have an ostensible reason to escape the "Eye of Sauron" (read: wife).

None of them looked like they were making a living. They looked like they just wanted out of the house.

Re: Weeding the Worst Library Books

#42

Post by empaone »

grimoald wrote: post #18
jandrese wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Librarians aren't subject matter experts on these technical fields, so it is very hard for them to know if a work is still relevant. They may be inclined to keep the "Learn Excel Today (now updated for version 3.0!)" because they know people still use Excel, while the Art of Computer Programming looks like a relic from the 70s that surely can't still be relevant, right?

A look at the blog mentioned in the article proves you right: http://awfullibrarybooks.net/knapsack-problems/ I don't know the book, but it doesn't seem outdated to me.

This book is available as a PDF from the author's website: http://www.or.deis.unibo.it/knapsack.html

Re: Weeding the Worst Library Books

#43

Post by watersb »

ent wrote: post #27
stephaniepier wrote: post #2

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 knowl…

Here in Finland all libraries seem to have a small shelf of weeded books free to take (or sometimes about 1-3€ each) next to the exit. I honestly thought it would be the same everywhere else.

That seems to be the case with our excellent public library in Los Alamos. I got one of my favorite Maths textbooks there for about 3€ (was five bucks).

Re: Weeding the Worst Library Books

#44

Post by sliverstorm »

marklyon wrote: post #22

I wonder, if part of the pre-weeding process, if books proposed to be disposed could be run through Amazon's system for sale. If sold within a certain window, then they go on to a new, more useful life. If not, they head to the dumpster. Since they're already shelved and easily located, it should be trivial for library staff to find, package and send any orders.

You see that a lot on Amazon actually. I almost exclusively buy books from various Goodwills around the country, via Amazon.

The ultimate solution might be delivering a palette to Amazon and letting them manage & ship them for you (as Amazon does with some used sellers), but I can see why Amazon might not want to shoulder that burden.

Re: Weeding the Worst Library Books

#45

Post by akuchling »

marincounty wrote: post #8

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…

There are two kinds of libraries: archives, which try to keep everything relevant for ever, and circulating libraries, which try to be useful to the public.

Municipal libraries are circulating libraries, so if they spend $80 on TAOCP vol. 1 and it's borrowed once, they basically wasted $80. They should have spent the $80 on something else that people would borrow multiple times, and the person who wanted TAOCP could have gotten it via inter-library loan (probably from some university library).

And I think online databases and Wikipedia are busily killing off physical reference books.

Re: Weeding the Worst Library Books

#46

Post by jjp »

esoteric_nonces wrote: post #26

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good public library in London? I've often found myself wanting to read a reference book prior to purchase (technical books are extremely expensive to buy). Do any of the universities offer subscriptions to members of the public?

No recommendation for a good public library. For pre-purchase of a reference book if it's current find the right bookshop and you could always do that way. Many universities offer access to their libraries. UCL access policy [1], City University Library [2]

[1] http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/membership/researchers-public [2] https://www.city.ac.uk/library/my-library/external

Re: Weeding the Worst Library Books

#47

Post by jhbadger »

grimoald wrote: post #18
jandrese wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Librarians aren't subject matter experts on these technical fields, so it is very hard for them to know if a work is still relevant. They may be inclined to keep the "Learn Excel Today (now updated for version 3.0!)" because they know people still use Excel, while the Art of Computer Programming looks like a relic from the 70s that surely can't still be relevant, right?

A look at the blog mentioned in the article proves you right: http://awfullibrarybooks.net/knapsack-problems/ I don't know the book, but it doesn't seem outdated to me.

I think what made the librarian think it was outdated was that it came with a 5.25" floppy disk.
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