Library Activism: Check Out Books!

Our friends over at Redeemed Reader have been mulling over the hype and melodrama of Banned Books Week. The discussions have reminded me of a little known fact: you can advocate for your chosen books, your most cherished book "friends", the kinds of books you think people should be reading by a very unobtrusive type of library activism: CHECK OUT THE BOOKS.

Because of privacy concerns, most circulation records are not identified by person anymore--no one will pull your particular circulation history. But they will be able to see which books have been checked out and how frequently. Every single library must go through a weeding/culling/deselecting (aka "throwing away books") process on a regular basis. Some titles are obviously out of date (any computer manual pre-2000 is definitely obsolete). Some books are simply falling apart. Sometimes more shelf space is needed. Guess which books make the cut? Those that have been checked out in the past few years. If a book hasn't been checked out in the past few years, it will be on the chopping block before a hot "checkout."