The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 2, January 14, 2007, Article 21

ON LIBRARY DEACCESSIONING POLICIES

Regarding the previous story of the library book returned after
forty-seven years, Len Augsburger writes: "This reminds me of a
story Dave Bowers told - while a student at Penn State he was
allowed to check out a certain volume for only 24 hours per the
library rules, even though no one had checked out the book for
one hundred years or so!"

[The Bowers anecdote relates to last week's item about the purpose
of libraries.  While the 24-hour limit is harsh for a book in little
demand, there's no question that the Penn State library was in the
business of collecting material for the ages.  Had they discarded
or sold the book somewhere along the way, it wouldn't have been
available century later.

I ran into a similar situation when I first discovered the four-volume
H. E. Kroos work, "A Documentary History of Banking and Currency in
the United States."  I don't think it had ever been checked out of
the library until I came along.  I pointed this out to the library
clerk and offered to buy the set to no avail.  I don't know if the
response was based on stewardship of the collection or simple
bureaucratic inertia, but the volumes remained in the library.
Eventually I found my own set. -Editor]

Coincidentally, Dick Johnson writes: "When I was a resident of
Danbury Connecticut I visited the Danbury Public Library fairly
frequently. In spring 1974, at a sale of surplus books, I picked
up a small run of the American Numismatic Society's Numismatic
Notes and Monographs. They had deaccessioned these a month or two
before.

"The card pocket and "Date Due" sheet were pasted in the back of
each. The donor's name and 1935 date of donation were handwritten
in the front. Every one of those NN&Ms were donated to the Danbury
Library by nearby resident Anna Hyatt Huntington (she and her
husband, Archer, were major ANS benefactors).

"Not one of those monographs had been checked out since 1935! Not
one entry on the Date Due sheet - reason enough to deaccession.
[Unless your mission is to collect for the ages, of course. -Editor]
Mrs. Huntington had died October 4th the year before. The library
had kept those monographs on the shelf all those years while she
was still alive. Was the reason for deacessioning that she was
now dead?

"Incidentally, the Danbury Library's greatest deaccession occurred
years later (February 1996). Every single book was deaccessioned
for smoke damage after a fire. (A mentally disturbed person had
dropped burning rubbish in the book return slot.) The circulation
department was entirely destroyed, but they made a decision to
replace every book in the library (and moved the book return kiosk
away from the building).

"This was a tragedy for me. For research on my coin and medal
technology encyclopedia I had often used the library's 5-volume
set of Oxford's "A History of Technology" by Singer & others. I
had made marginal notes in one volume in that library set. (Okay,
not a good idea.) I'd give anything to own that set now."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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