The University of California Libraries: A Plan for Development (1977)

X. Housing 169
Third! (There is a happy ending--the Folio was recovered some 280
years later, although at a fairly substantial price.) Most librarians
of any experience can relate similar if less dramatic examples.
In order to avoid the likelihood of intellectual tragedies, then,
it appears essential that all items selected for discard be reviewed,
preferably by "an intelligent, humane, book-loving librarian" who has
at least "a touch of the Alexandrian tradition." 3 The cost of this
review is estimated at $.70 per volume, 4 so the total processing cost
of each volume considered for weeding becomes $1.70. For the
5,758,000 volumes involved, this amounts to $9,788,000. It was assumed,
somewhat conservatively, that perhaps 20 percent of the items
considered for weeding would be retained, so the predicted number of
volumes to be discarded becomes 4,606,400. The volumes not discarded
will of course add to the amount of additional construction needed on
campus, and this raises the total cost of the weeding alternative to
$56,384,000. This is still a substantial savings over the "base
case"--an estimated $33,046,000--but as noted below there appear to
be even more economical and attractive alternatives that do not involve
the risks inherent in weeding. The weeding alternative is
therefore not recommended.
Differential Housing. The final approach to be considered is a
differentiated approach to shelving of the materials. Fussler and
Simon note that "it has long been assumed in American university libraries
that all books not actually in use should be immediately
available and shelved with all other books on the subject," but that
this "presumed necessity for the immediate availability of books may
deserve closer examination when the cost of providing it is compared
with possible alternatives." 5
3
Ray L. Hefner, quoted in Robin Wilson, "Must We Burn Our Books?", p.
24.
4
Based on calculations in Lee Ash, Yale's Selective Book Retirement
Program, Shoestring Press, 1963, pp. 48-49.
5
Herman H. Fussler and Julian L. Simon, Patterns in the Use of Books in
Large Research Libraries, University of Chicago Press, 1969, pp.
1-2.