To a certain subset of the public, every person working at the library must be a librarian. Among this group, I imagine a good portion are of the misbegotten mindset that any item with words on a page, no matter the condition or content, belongs in the library.
These are the people I have to thank for this:
Ah, there’s nothing like arriving at work and discovering yet another pile of crap in the parking lot. (At least it wasn’t in front of the door.) I know that this anonymous donor has their heart in the right place, and likely believes they are contributing something useful, but . . . well, let’s just take a closer look:
Ooh, there’s a keeper! ARGH. Someone actually took the time to transport this dessicated hunk of pulp from wherever it’s been for the last fifteen years, to my doorstep. Someone actually took a look at this lump, saw BOOK, thought LIBRARY, and brought it over, along with a few dozen tattered five-year-old magazines and various other volumes of no value to anyone save the authors’ mothers. The mind wobbles.
I can usually tell just by looking if there’s anything worth saving in a batch of donations, but sometimes you have to dig in to be sure. Sifting day after day through bags and boxes of dusty discards becomes tiresome, but the chore is not without its rewards. How else would I have aquired The Anarchist Cookbook, a Dungeon Masters Guide, or a 1951 Modern Library edition of The Catcher in the Rye; not to mention all the vintage schoolbooks which provide the artwork for most of my crafts?
Okay, so it’s not all junk. But! Generous People, I implore you from the bottom of my bookworm heart: If what you’re considering donating to your local library at all resembles the poor specimen pictured above, or is torn, yellowed, dirty, moldy, smelly or something you’d be ashamed to lend to someone you want to impress, do us all a favor and recycle the whole lot. You won’t see it on the shelf anytime soon, but it may eventually return in another, more pleasant incarnation.
So you’re saying you don’t want my coverless copy of Nine Coaches Waiting? But someone could use the pages for mulch!
By: The Mayor of Bethville on July 24, 2008
at 11:13 am
Because of my relatively new friendships with librarians or aspiring librarians, now when I step into a library I narrow my eyes and wonder who the true librarians are, and whether or not they all teach that Very busy and important working with literature walk-jig-turnabout thing, or if it varies from library to library.
By: SBJ on July 24, 2008
at 5:01 pm
I had no idea you could dump old books and magazines outside your library after closing time.
This is good to know.
By: myrtlebeachbum on July 24, 2008
at 7:12 pm
Ugh. YES. And people, the mold on your book can spread to other books, so please don’t think we can “fix” or “save” it. You wouldn’t donate a moldy loaf of bread to the homeless shelter, would you? Then please don’t donate your moldy-ass books to the library.
And also, the book drop is not a garbage can, a place for your free weekly newspaper, or the Blockbuster return bin.
By: *h on July 25, 2008
at 5:37 am
*h: Terrific analogy. Wish I could say that to the public !
And considering there’s a Blockbuster next door, we don’t get as many of their returns as you’d imagine.
By: LipstickLibrarian on July 25, 2008
at 6:53 am
Do you guys not have recycling bins provided by the city? Cause I have so many magazines to get rid of, but I’d be far too lazy to drive to the library to leave them on the doorstep when there’s a handy recycling bin outside my stoop.
By: dorothyzbornak on July 25, 2008
at 7:55 am
Dottie: My city is very big on recycling, and there are bins all over the place.
Many people are shocked by the notion that the library recycles printed material; a woman once tried to donate a box filled with paperbacks in slightly better shape than my poor friend up there and was affronted when I told her we would just recycle them.
“They’re good books! Look, you can still read. Good books!”
When I took my break a few minutes later, I found the box on the sidewalk.
By: LipstickLibrarian on July 25, 2008
at 8:31 am
@Lipstick: One of my first library gigs was doing gov doc stuff at my college library. There is something very satisfying about getting to take a bunch of volumes of the federal regulations and dumping them in the recycling bin. It makes a lovely thump.
By: cate3710 on July 25, 2008
at 2:15 pm