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I can’t get this out of my head: non-archivist academic talking about libraries “dumping” microforms. Here’s what happens in libraries when we jettison equipment and material that no one is using to make room for something in demand or providing special value to the collection.
Survey area libraries to see if others have the materials we want to part with—after determining whether we have access to them in another way, e.g., three stable databases.
We have a concept in librarianship called LOCKSS: lots of copies keeps stuff safe, so if we “dump” something, you can bet the Ivies have it, some in a cave in Colorado for sentient cockroach archaeologists to find in 3,000 years.
Not every library can or should keep every piece of microfilm, every video, every book. There are a lot of libraries. We spread the responsibility around and share materials through partnerships like interlibrary loan. We digitize to the fullest extent the law and budget allow.
We choose what to keep based on our best appraisals of researcher and future millennia sentient cockroach needs. Some librarians love weeding their holdings. Others hate it, but we all understand that resources and researcher time are finite.
We also understand that it’s easier for researchers to find what they need, or even stumble on what they didn’t know they needed, in a well-organized & described collection. Some libraries are smaller than others. We have specialties—areas where we keep just about everything.
Do you really want—or need all of the things to be housed on your campus? Be honest with yourself about your needs and what you’re willing to give up to achieve them. Do you mind sharing your office to make room for a microforms reader/printer? Or giving up your parking space?
It’s true that library materials end up in Dumpsters sometimes, but that doesn’t mean they’re put there without thoughtful deliberation, consultation with researchers and readers, and a diligent survey of digital and regional access.
Before books, microforms, serials, videotapes, etc. go to the great beyond, they’re offered to other libraries, including prison libraries and libraries in other countries. I have personally overseen donations to adult and youth facilities and to a school in Ghana, for example.
But those libraries have needs and limitations, as well. Libraries for incarcerated people is a whole other rant about power, privilege, and withholding as punishment.
My real point here is to talk to a librarian or read our literature before judging our choices. Nb before judging our literature remember that many of us are not faculty and do not get research leave or even recognition for our scholarly contributions.
Finally: we love the work you do, supporting it to the best of our resources and beyond, and many of you are friends, academic partners, and/or significant other partners. We love the work that we do. We just don’t love when you dump on it.
