Such practices are in line with guidelines set out by the American Library Association (ALA), a non-profit organisation that promotes the development and improvement of libraries.

The process of removing books from a collection is known as “weeding” and is critical to every library, it noted. 

“Weeding and collection maintenance are based on the availability of newer, updated resources or the circulation statistics and use of materials,” ALA stated on its website.

Books that are withdrawn can be donated to community partners for book sales, it added. If they are not sold, they can be disposed of at the discretion of the community partners.

BOOK GIVEAWAYS

NLB said over the years, it has donated pre-loved books to 130 local community partners and international institutions. 

These include schools, community clubs, residents’ committees, ageing centres and reading corners at some organisations. 

It also organises an annual Big Book Giveaway event, where the public can take home pre-loved books for free.

“We will have our 10th edition later this year, and about 60,000 books are expected to be given away then,” NLB said.

In the case of the Yale-NUS books, students and faculty had questioned why they were not informed of any opportunities to claim the books. 

“The issue here, for me, isn’t that I didn’t get a chance to pick up some free books as a faculty member, or that students missed out on that chance too,” added Philosophy professor Andrew Bailey

“It is that books are precious, and that it is a misuse of scarce resources to shred them.”

Associate Professor Natalie Pang, university librarian of NUS, said that while the library regularly rehomes books, the scale of the operation this time was “much larger” than in past relocation exercises, which typically involved only a few hundred titles.

She added that the university will now implement a new standard operating procedure across all its libraries. The new protocol will require more comprehensive outreach to both faculty members and students before books are removed.

Two book adoption fairs will be held – one from May 28 to 30 and the other from May 31 to Jun 6 and Jun 8 to 9. The first is open to Yale-NUS alumni, staff and guests. The second will be open to members of the public.

For any remaining titles that are still not rehomed after these events, NUS will partner with secondhand platforms such as Thryft to find new homes for the books.

“Essentially, what I’m trying to do with this new SOP is to extend the shelf life and the life cycle of the books,” said Assoc Prof Pang. 

Editor’s note: This article has been updated with the latest dates of the two NUS book adoption fairs.

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