A library use suggestion

[klmama]

Libraries only have so much shelf space, and they like to bring in new books patrons request.  It pays to ask how your librarian determines which books to discard.  Many eliminate books that have not been checked out in the past two or three years, even if they are classics.  If your library has books you know you will need in future years, it may be worth checking them out now to boost those books' circulation count, possibly ensuring they will still be available when you really want them.  

[domestic_engineer]

.... or don’t check them out, let the library put it in their book sale, and then buy it from them cheaply. 😉
 

but seriously, yes, you’re exactly right. 

[*****]

I recently asked one of our librarians how they chose which books to discard (they recently had done a MAJOR discard, and many were excellent books bought from suggestions by homeschoolers just 5 or so years earlier). Classics for sure...

Her reply, "There are some I just don't get."    So, she would yank them from the shelf.  Sigh...

Well, someone 'gets' these, and isn't that what the library is for?  For everyone?  And it is our taxpayer money...I understand that they have to watch their shelf space, but really, they did have plenty...

Luckily there was a mother with a young girl going through the sale pile just then, so I started handing her some of the books my kids had loved as a suggestion, and she was happy to take them.  But don't suggest I buy them, my shelves were full! That's why we have libraries, right?!

[egao_gakari]

Back when I worked in a library, they had signs up asking people not to put back the books they'd taken out to read at a desk or sofa. I had thought that this was just because people are likely to put them back in the wrong place, but once I started working there, I found out that they also scanned them as though they had been checked out and returned. That way they were "counting" the books that were being read in the library as well as those that were being brought home. I have no idea how common of a practice this is, but I remember thinking it was smart. That was a library director who was very cautious about "remaindering" books (the euphemism they used for discarding).

[goldenecho]

13 minutes ago, egao_gakari said:

Back when I worked in a library, they had signs up asking people not to put back the books they'd taken out to read at a desk or sofa. I had thought that this was just because people are likely to put them back in the wrong place, but once I started working there, I found out that they also scanned them as though they had been checked out and returned. That way they were "counting" the books that were being read in the library as well as those that were being brought home. I have no idea how common of a practice this is, but I remember thinking it was smart. That was a library director who was very cautious about "remaindering" books (the euphemism they used for discarding).

That's cool.  It would be worth asking if you're our does this.  If that was the case, to keep books in circulation we could just unshelf books we want to use later, occasionally, in stead of checking them out.

[Noreen Claire]

My library regularly has a table of 'lonely' or 'forgotten' books that haven't been checked out for a long time. They display them prominently and write up a synopsis for each book. They plainly state that the books that aren't borrowed will eventually be sent to the book sale.

I miss the book sale. The library had serious damage due to a burst pipe over a weekend last August (2019), and we haven't had the semi-annual book sale since. 😞

Edited September 13, 2020 by Noreen Claire
clarity

[klmama]

58 minutes ago, goldenecho said:

If that was the case, to keep books in circulation we could just unshelf books we want to use later, occasionally, in stead of checking them out.

Yes, that could work well for books from your local library, but perhaps not as well  if it's part of a larger library system.  Our city has a number of branch libraries and is part of a regional library system for several counties, so we regularly check out books from 20 locations without having to use ILL.