A May Reddit post showing a dumpster bin filled with books, allegedly behind Olympic and Centennial residential halls, sparked outrage and confusion among students.
The post to UCLA’s subreddit with the image, entitled “UCLA IS TRASHING THOUSANDS OF BOOKS,” received about 250 “upvotes” and over 60 comments. While some comments expressed concern at the image, many said it is a standard library practice to periodically clear out older editions of books.
“Wait instead of being thrown out why aren’t they donated to public libraries and such?” one user commented on the post.
Another user commented that such books should be put out for students to take.
Ruby Churton, a rising third-year environmental science student, said the image’s contents appeared wasteful to her.
“I know that a lot of students struggle and have to buy new books,” she said. “If these are books that students could be using, that would definitely be much better.”
But Athena Jackson, the Norman and Armena Powell University Librarian, said there is more to the image than what can be seen at first glance. She said the books in the pictured bin were going through the “weeding process” that regularly takes place at UC libraries, along with many libraries across the country.
The books in the Reddit post were not in the trash but in a recycling bin, said Ariane Bicho, the director of strategic communications and marketing at UCLA Library. Jackson added that books can be “pruned” or recycled if they are duplicates, outdated or accessible through electronic versions, noting that most of the books pictured in that post were likely duplicates.
“I want you to have all of these materials but I also know how you need them,” Jackson said. “The modalities of learning and understanding are way more important to me than having four copies of a title.”
The pruning process is a necessary procedure to make space for new materials, Jackson said. Bicho added that campus and UC-wide policies – rather than the library – determine how books are weeded out during the deaccessioning process.
Jackson also said that while most outdated books are recycled, some specific books are kept for their artifactual value in special collections and archives at UCLA.
“There’s no hasty, blunt instrument pulling of things,” Jackson said. “It’s very intricate. It’s very detailed, so that we make sure what we have flourishes.”
Jackson added that there are not enough resources for the library to donate books or let students purchase books instead of recycling them.
Many universities participate in programs like Books with Wings and Books for Africa, which redistribute books to schools in Afghanistan and Africa, respectively. While UCLA has participated in similar programs in the past, it is not engaging in any book redistribution programs as of now, said Allison Benedetti, the associate university librarian for teaching, learning and research.
“Just to be more frank, is that I don’t have the staff in place to create a system where we’re giving away books or doing anything like that,” Jackson said. “We’re building the collections for research, teaching and learning – not for donation.”
Books on campus are therefore likely being pruned and heading to a recycling facility to make room for new books – not the landfills.
“It is a big investment to keep something forever,” Jackson said. “The books that your colleagues discovered are probably those that were pruned from our collection because we were able to effectively serve readers another way.”
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