There has been a big go-round on library twitter over the past little while about a tweet about book donations and patrons getting upset at the thought of library workers selling or recycling donated items rather than putting them in to the library collection.
I know that as library workers we are usually inured to the thought that books have a finite lifespan before they are moved on to being sold or sent off to be pulped, but I think a majority of the library-going public are not as hardened to these realities as we are. It is so easy to write our library users off as being precious or over-sensitive about the fate of beloved books that they wish to donate to us, they have loved the stories and wish to share them with others.
The belief that books are precious and need to be looked after is one that is instilled in people from a very young age – usually beginning at library story-times, I can remember my librarian who showed us how to look after books, not tear pages, turn the page from the top right-hand corner and be respectful of library books, as others need the chance to read them too. This is passed down from adult to child in families that have been brought up using libraries and often they may have had the same librarian showing them how to be look after books.
These kinds of interactions are often the most that a lot of people have with library staff, they grow up believing that library workers love books and want library users to look after them and treat them gently (and we do want that – we know how many times books have to be loaned to recoup their expense). When they come up against the harsh reality that often we are unable to use donations except as fund-raising items for book sales they can get upset because their idealized image of library workers seldom matches up with the harsh reality of what we do.
We do not need to be harsh when confronted with library donations, most times people’s hearts are in the right place when they bring in things that they think we can use, it may be that they have heard that library budgets are constantly under thread and donating books is the only thing that they can do (if it helps them clear space in their homes then it is a double bonus).
It is so easy to poke fun of people on social media, especially those whom we can be judgey about (like people who get upset when they find out that their donations are not wanted) at the moment most people support libraries and library workers but if they see more and more of us act like entitled a-holes online that may change.
We work in libraries to serve our users and educate them, and that includes education on how libraries work and how we maintain our loan materials and everything else!
No, physical books are not eternal items of wonder and magic, but to most people (myself included) some can be, and we would do well to remember that.
