The Pomona Point Newsletter

[Admin]

While reading the Pomona Point for the first time, the article about the library dumping books caught my attention. Is it true that the university library is dumping books to make rooms for new materials?

To: Faculty, Staff, Students, Patrons, Book Lovers

Save Our Books

The Cal Poly, Pomona, University Library has already dumped* tens of thousands of books, and is threatening to dump as many as 300,000 more books in order to fit our collections into the new 100 million dollar study hall.

SAVE OUR BOOKS, STOP THE DUMPING.*

We the Students and concerned Faculty, Staff and Patrons of the Cal Poly, Pomona, University Library, Demand: a Moratorium on the Dumping of Library Materials and call for a complete and independent audit of the Library Building Program, including the number and value of material dumped (withdrawn) from the University Library.

The future is clear: NO MORE free libraries and ever increasing information access fees.

One chilling outcome of the wholesale destruction of our print collections: PAY FOR IT, in the form of ever increasing student information access fees and diminishing access to free and print collections. If information is power, those with the most money WIN

*The wholesale removal of valuable teaching and research materials, exactly the type of materials one would expect to find in a serious university library. This dumping is above and beyond the routine review and withdrawal of obsolete or out of scope materials which all libraries do.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned
http://www.petitiononline.c om/cpo2007/petition.html

And if the library is indeed dumping the books, I hope all of them are transferred over to a public library.

[Admin]

A Commentary on the Future of the University Library, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
http://www.calpolylibrary.c om/
The website is incomplete at its stage, related to the Cal Poly Pomona Library book dumping article.

[lakdod]

there was a guy at U hour who I have seen working in the libary passing out fliers about saving books from being thrown out so I guess its true

[thepomonapoint]

The Pomona Point has documented some pictures of books being thrown away. The INTERIM Editor-in-Chief had, last quarter, witnessed a dumpster just outside the library full of books. He picked out a couple, some were medical books, others were encyclopedias and reference books. There has been no recent books thrown out, that we know of. Perhaps they are being thrown out in other dumpsters.

The Poly Post, too, has covered some of these issues.


Auguste S. Fischer
Publicity Editor
The Pomona Point

[thepomonapoint]

I'd also like to add that www.calpolylibrary.c om is no longer available.

A controversial conspiracy behind this, we must ask?


A.S. Fischer

[G0ldenchild]

I don't see why they just don't give it out to students or donate it.

[Young Entrepreneur]

Are you sure the university library is dumping the old books in the trash bin? Maybe they're sending them over to a library. The least they should is recycle the books.

[thepomonapoint]

Do you mean to say, sending the books to other libraries via a recycling bin?

Yes, the least the did was put them in the mixed-recycling bin, not the land-fill bin. And yes, there are picutres and witnesses if you mean to say you are skeptical of the situation.


Regards,

A.S. Fischer

[Admin]

Originally Posted by The Poly Post "Pointless Destruction of Books"

The University Library follows three sets of criteria to determine whether to discard a book according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The book must not have been checked out in the past 10 years.

In addition to the 10-year rule, the book must be available at a nearby library.

Damaged books are eligible for removal.
Source: http://media.www.thepolypos t.com/media/storage/paper1127/news/2007/02/27/Opinion/Pointless.Destructio n.Of.Books-2746216.shtml

After reading the article, it is understandable where the library is coming from. Even with the expansion of the library, there might not be enough bookshelves to store all the books. Additional computer workstations and study desks will be added which takes up lot of space too, and don't forget the people space.

Originally Posted by PolyCentric

Phase I will feature the addition of 135,000 gross square feet of "people space" that will accommodate increasing enrollment. This space — which will come from the enclosure of the ground floor overhang and expansion of the building’s east and west sides — will include classrooms and other areas to support new technological applications of library research.
Source: http://polycentric.csupomon a.edu/news.asp?id=341&disp lay=archive

It would save time to toss the retired books to the recycling bin than to wait weeks for students to save the books from the dumpster. I doubt a good percentage of students would bother picking up books that failed to meet the above criteria.

Some professors restrict students from citing sources from old books (ex. published before 2000) and require students to do research on modern books with revised principles and what not.