Friday, June 24, 2016

Bad books?

I can't convey in writing how frustrating my first reference question of the morning was (laptop help over the phone--my colleague says, "If only videocalling had become a thing"), so instead let's talk about collections because it's my current favorite thing.


I had a library school indoctrination, including a class on ethics, so I think of myself as being pretty firmly in the camp of 'everything belongs in the public library,' but I walked by the 610s (medicine) yesterday and had a powerful urge to take a pseudo-science 'cure all your problems with a weird diet' book off of display, and perhaps to mis-shelve it a little, too.


Are there any materials that you think do not belong in a public library?

8 comments:

  1. I like the idea of an evidence-based library that wouldn't have any books about astrology and crap like that. But is there a slippery-slope problem?

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    1. I think there's definitely a slippery slope problem, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the best place to stop is at the very top of the slope.

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  2. the librarians I work with here think that if we ever got started down that road, we'd end up with about 15 books in our collection

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    1. I would love to know where you work or what kind of library it is, but I understand if you don't want to say.

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    2. public library midsize town, full of self-help books and Dr Oz bs.

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  3. maybe we could at least not *display* the books that are full of pseudo-science? One of your coworkers must have decided to feature that book, right?

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    1. I sort of see your point...it was just the single book on the outfacing stand on its shelf, so it wasn't prominent, but I bet whoever put it there didn't really look at what it was.

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