> the primary purpose of a public library is not to preserve materials, it's to provide access to them
I worked in public libraries for years and almost nobody understands or believes how true this is.
The main metric that libraries (the ones that I worked in) are assessed by, by the city council members who determine their funding, is "circulation" which is how many materials are loaned out to the public.
We have fixed finite stack space and we get rid of as many books as we acquire each year.
As a result, its in the libraries interest to buy way too many copies of all the latest best sellers and popular new releases, so that there will be plenty of copies available to borrowers right while the interest in them is high. Almost all of those will be weeded out less than a year later when demand drops off.
The circulation numbers are so skewed that maintaining a comprehensive back catalogue is a sort of vanity project, not an imperative.
I worked in public libraries for years and almost nobody understands or believes how true this is.
The main metric that libraries (the ones that I worked in) are assessed by, by the city council members who determine their funding, is "circulation" which is how many materials are loaned out to the public.
We have fixed finite stack space and we get rid of as many books as we acquire each year.
As a result, its in the libraries interest to buy way too many copies of all the latest best sellers and popular new releases, so that there will be plenty of copies available to borrowers right while the interest in them is high. Almost all of those will be weeded out less than a year later when demand drops off.
The circulation numbers are so skewed that maintaining a comprehensive back catalogue is a sort of vanity project, not an imperative.