As a result of these two forces, library space available for books and periodicals has not increased to accommodate new materials, and in a number of cases has actually shrunk from what was available a decade ago. This has forced libraries, both public and university, to aggressively cull their existing collection of books and periodicals to make space for new materials. The Tacoma News Tribune reports that one of its branch libraries (Swan Creek) will reduce its book collection by 40 percent to make room for 15 more computers. The consequence of this culling is the permanent loss of older materials, including all but a handful of history books and biographies, few older than a decade or two, as newer, though not necessarily better, materials become available. Although there are no systematic surveys of what types of books get culled from collections, it is likely that these involuntary retirements occur among the more serious books with limited audiences. This allows libraries to serve the largest segment of the reading public with more limited stock, usually by placing greater emphasis upon popular works of fiction
For the most part, libraries are disposing of largely the same "out dated" materials, and very little of what is disposed of is transferred to another, more compact, medium, such as microfiche or microfilm, or is stored electronically on computer accessible files. With the exception perhaps of the Library of Congress, to which access is limited or inconvenient to the general public, and certainly to those outside the Washington metropolitan area, many works of history and biography are disappearing forever.
|
