[Mpls] Mpls] Minneapolis Public Library Caught Throwing Books in Dumspter

[Deborah Morse-Kahn]

Ron Leurquin has it right on this one: always research your story before going public.

Recycling books can take several forms: sale, donation, trash.

MPL does a very decent job of weeding books out of their system, like most major library systems they have multiple copies of best-sellers--and very old books no one has checked out for 25 years--that they put out for sale in the Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library shops. If those don't sell, MPL will seek a reasonable donation site--children's books to Boys & Girls Clubs, craft books to Senior homes, etc. If the books are declined--particularly when the titles are old or out-of-date for young readers, then the books are destroyed.

Since books are not legal documents or private papers, there is no need for a "controlled disposal" so they go out in a dumpster.

If you consider exactly how many books you see at yard and garage sales that no one wants, even for a dollar, consider the poor libraries who are often dealing with entire estates dropped on them with a thousand books neither wanted or solicited that may have no relevance to the library's collections policy or may simply be 50 years out of date.

When was the last time we weeded our own shelves?  ;^)

Don't be so hard on the MPL, or the Hennepin County folks, or the UM libraries...they are our front lines of book purchase and preservation (as much as current budgets will allow).

Back to my first point: ask questions first, without rancor or agenda, and you will likely get a generous and educating answer to your interest.


Deborah Morse-Kahn, Linden Hills 
Regional Research Associates