[ovt]

I don't like deletion very much either in general, although I've seen librarians defend themselves with 1. that they totally don't have room for stuff 2. for kids' stuff, at least, if it's science, our knowledge has grown so much that it's a disservice for them to read the old book without context. Or if it's fiction, it can be full of social norms and beliefs that we've grown beyond, where...we'd also want them to have context if they were going to read it.

But it sucks when you hear how they often don't have a good sense of the value (intellectual or otherwise) of what they cull. And it sucks if everyone makes the same judgment and all throw away our ephemera that we wish to look back, evoke memories, reveal something of our time.

[johansch]

Most libraries (in Europe, at least) tend to have an incredibly low density of books. I think the image of a good-looking library is more important to them than to actually have more books on the shelves.

E.g. something like this (the main public library in Linköping, Sweden):

https://cdn3.cdnme.se/cdn/7-2/1081760/images/2012/dsc_0337_1...

rather than something like

http://f.tqn.com/y/seattle/1/W/V/F/-/-/IMG_8459.JPG

[WalterBright]

Kenmore's public library has a low density of books as well - wide aisles, low shelves. I suspect it is partly due to wanting to be accessible to people in wheelchairs. But few books kinda defeats the purpose of having a library.

Half-Price Books in Bellevue is more my speed. It's completely packed with books. I could putter away hours in there.

[PaulHoule]

Damn, how do they keep the books from falling out of those sideways shelving units in Seattle? ;-)

[criddell]

They are trying to serve their patrons with limited resources. Getting a new box of books in means that something old has to go. I don't think it's more sinister than that.