How Do Libraries Decide What to Keep?

Imagine a library like a giant toy box. Some toys are used all the time, so they stay in the box. Others sit there for years and never get picked up, eventually, someone decides to take them out to make space for new toys. That’s kind of how libraries work with books. They look at how many times a book is borrowed or read before deciding whether to keep it or send it away.

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Examples

  1. A library might throw out a book about dinosaurs if no one borrows it for five years.
  2. The most popular book in the library gets checked out every day and stays on the shelf forever.
  3. Sometimes, even books that are just slightly damaged can be kept because they still work well.

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Categories: Culture · libraries· books· curating knowledge · Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.