The Brooklyn Public Library Throws Out Books!!!

zorkonian

For over 3 years, I noticed that every night before the recycle is collected, the Boro Park, Kensington and Cortelyou branches of the Brooklyn Public library puts out hundreds of books in black or clear trash bags. Most of these books are not damaged or obscure. I have found books in great condition by authors such as J. K. Rowling, James Patterson, Eion Colfer, John Grisham, Meg Cabot, Emily Dickinson, Ridley Pearson and many other great, popular authors all thrown, unceremoniously, in trash bags by the curb. To make matters worse, the past few weeks, I have found these books drenched in water-even when it hadn't rained in days. Perhaps they are trying to keep people from sifting through they're trash? Throwing good books in the trash is a horrible thing. I understand that the library does not have enough shelf space, but they can at least sell them, donate them to people who cannot afford books, or even put them on a separate shelf for people to take for free. We complain about how the public doesn't read enough and about the amount of illiterate people in the world, yet the libraries-the supposed guardians of knowledge, throw thousands of books a year in the garbage.

Anyone who wants to put a stop to this, and perhaps organize a protest or the like, please comment. We cannot let this continue in our community!

domino

Have you spoken to the librarian? If I noticed this practice every week for three years my curiosity would have gotten the better of me. I cannot imagine there is a good reason why these books are thrown out - other area libraries have Dollar Sales for these books. Even if a sale was not possible, I cannot imagine that a school, hospital or nursing home would not gratefully accept them. Perhaps you can start with the most simple approach - ask the staff. If no plausible reason is given, perhaps a letter to the next level (not sure precisely what that is) is in order (with a photo).

bohuma

I hate to break it to you, but every lending library in the world discards books that are surplus to requirements. Many of the discards are duplicates, the library will ordinarily buy multiple copies of popular books, and as their popularity wains or they are returned damaged (e.g. a lender tears out pages or defaces the book), they are weeded out of the shelves. Many libraries have book sales periodically, but these sometimes cost more to put on than they actually make in book sales and a large library like BPP would need to hold a sale every week to keep up with the discards. If the library has a volunteer group, that group may be able to sell some books. Ultimately though, most of any library's surplus books end up in the recycle bin or in landfill.

cabar

Last year I accidentally returned a book to the Central Branch, that was from my daughter's public school library. When I called the next day to inquire about it, I was told that it had been thrown away. I was told that they always throw away books that are mistakenly returned to them, even if there's another library's identification inside. I was thoroughly disgusted, and find it hard to support the library system ever since.

whatchuwant

ZORK: Did you ever think that maybe those wet books suffered damage while INSIDE the library? Leaky pipes/ceiling/etc?

CABAR: Do you really think the staff have time/resources to fix YOUR mistake and call the owning library/school of the book you left there? Hey, I understand a mistake, but this probably happens ALL the time. They simply don't have what it takes to track down whoever/whatever owns the book and return it. Please.

Earlier this year, I brought some books to the main branch thinking of how useful and great it would be. I actually had to stand on a line JUST for people giving away their books. The guy accepting them had 5 HUGE bins behind him for all the books people dumped.

They have WAY more than they can handle.

Here's a thought- see if you can get those books before they trash them and send them yourself to a country that needs them.

armchair_warrior

it is a wasteful practice that been going on for a long time. instead of dumping it they could have like a central dump center and people with profit in mind can always go through that dump center and everyone would be happy.

zorkonian

Hi everyone.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. In response to some comments I have been getting that every library in the world discards books and that libraries need room for new books, I know. I am not saying that the library should keep every book they ever received on the shelves, I am saying that throwing books in the trash is not an appropriate way of getting rid of excess books. Even if it's not practical for libraries to hold book sales, they can at least find some way of informing the public that they have books in great condition that they want to get rid of. Books are very expensive these days and lots of people would jump on the opportunity to get free books, even at the library's convenience. Just to give everyone an update- a reporter from the daily news contacted me about this issue today. She interviewed me and said that they might look into this problem more and publish an article about it! This is great news because, hopefully, publicizing this issue will convince the people in charge of the library system, that we want to put a stop to throwing out books.

Thanks guys! And keep reading for more updates.