Memory Hole Activate!

[The Conservative]

This is fantastic.

Once all information is stored digitally and networked, it will be so much easier to 'correct' mistakes in the record, unfettered from the shibboleth of print.

Print is needed. With everything that can be "edited to be corrected" sounds to me a lot like what Nazi Germany was attempting to do to rewrite history.

Whatever grandpa. I don't have time for all that nonsense as I will be otherwise engaged kicking too many flips on my wheelie board.

POST-FACT!

Then you don't know your history, or remember it...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_negationism

[Fife]

For the amount of money the books were supposed to be worth, they could've built an addition.

I seriously doubt it's about the money. It's never really about the money.

[Speaker to Animals]

For the amount of money the books were supposed to be worth, they could've built an addition.

I seriously doubt it's about the money. It's never really about the money.

Nope. I would like to see some statistics of what kinds of books hit the shredder. That might make for an interesting discussion..

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

Didn't you read it? They lost the darn list, aw shucks.

I'll bet it is all fine though, it is all fine here, no more questions please.

[ssu]

Most libraries that I know would get rid of old books by trying to sell them (at a really, really low price of like .50 for a paperback and a 1.00 for hardbacks).

The best way for any library to dump magazines, old periodicals and other near worthless books that nobody reads or one's that are simply falling apart is simply to give them away for free before they are destroyed. Find a space for them, put them on display and the whole thing creates interest in the library itself, many people will just come to see if there's anything valuable for them. Some libraries I know do this, put them on a table with a sign "TAKE AWAY, Please!" and people obey the command. Now this can be totally ordinary especially if some library get a huge amount of scientific journals, yet has only limited space. If you have tried to give them away for free and still nobody has taken them, it doesn't create such uproar if they end up in trash.

Now destroying books and then even not knowing what you destroyed is a bit different.

[jbird4049]

Somehow I'm not surprised. The town's beaches are not bad though.

What happened to microfiche? Plenty of basket weaving majors that could intern as an archivist if you ask me.

You need a special college degree to become an archivist, even for your local public library.

Yes, if we're talking about a library of science degree, it's an easy masters degree to get, but you do need a bachelor's in something first.

For the amount of money the books were supposed to be worth, they could've built an addition.

I seriously doubt it's about the money. It's never really about the money.

If the university was serious about its responsibilities, and it really was about lack of money, some of those books could have been sold, or some rich donors could have been found. Building a climate controled barn to store books is not that expensive.

But books are not sexy, and old fashion research is not either. UCSC just did not want to spend the effort, so it did the easy course of using an algorithm to select in job lots those musty old books to dump and shred.

[Okeefenokee]

Most libraries that I know would get rid of old books by trying to sell them (at a really, really low price of like .50 for a paperback and a 1.00 for hardbacks).

The best way for any library to dump magazines, old periodicals and other near worthless books that nobody reads or one's that are simply falling apart is simply to give them away for free before they are destroyed. Find a space for them, put them on display and the whole thing creates interest in the library itself, many people will just come to see if there's anything valuable for them. Some libraries I know do this, put them on a table with a sign "TAKE AWAY, Please!" and people obey the command. Now this can be totally ordinary especially if some library get a huge amount of scientific journals, yet has only limited space. If you have tried to give them away for free and still nobody has taken them, it doesn't create such uproar if they end up in trash.

Now destroying books and then even not knowing what you destroyed is a bit different.

My school's library does this every semester. There's some funny useless shit they give away, but a guy I know gets to it first and he's gotten some decent books.

[Fife]

The estimable Richard Fernandez riffed on the UCSC library piece yesterday in a great post about our growing Idiotacracy.

:goteam:

Witchcraft

If a global catastrophe destroyed all of civilization's works yet spared these few million they could re-create every object in the world again. By contrast if only these few millions perished the remaining billions though untouched could continue only until things broke down. It is knowledge which sustains civilization. Of course knowledge is also stored in libraries against catastrophe. Or is it? If universities began seeing science as old "white man" sorcery they might start purging it like ISIS does wizardry. Richard Montgomery describes the culling of USSC's libraries.

I used to recommend Fernandez all the time on the DCF. I don't know if I have over here yet: https://pjmedia.com/columnist/richard-fernandez

[Speaker to Animals]

You know..

I see profit to be had here. One could gather the necessary capital to purchase suitable warehousing for the books, get onto various state library loan systems, and charge a flat weekly rate to borrow books that are difficult to find.

You are basically targeting university libraries and researchers who might need these books for projects or reference, and their libraries fucked them, but you have the goods, for a fee.

You could even sell it to these libraries by offering to come and pick up the books yourselves. All they need to do is set aside the books, you will come and get them, and pay them some discount on the value of the books.

The kicker here is that a lot of books that professors and researchers often want are in very low print. So if you can manage to corner the market on those books, you can make a decent amount of money leasing them out.

[de officiis]

I'm a sucker for a good used book store. There's nothing better than winding your way through a maze of narrow pathways surrounded by shelf upon shelf of books, seeking out a hidden gem.