Libraries and CPSIA
Posted by Valerie on March 21, 2009
I want to write more about Nancy Nord’s letter to Representative John D. Dingell later, because it was a treasure trove of information and presented very well.
But for now, this statement was really troubling.
“…information received from the trade associations…suggests that most library books lent to children are recycled approximately every 18 lending cycles or three years. Thus, it appears that few of the books being provided to children in their schools and from libraries would be more than 20 years old.”
This issue is well within my area of expertise, given that Jacobsen Books regularly sees freshly discarded ex-library children’s books from about 100 libraries in the Illinois-Wisconsin stateline area. We have quite a bit of experience working with libraries in Madison, Milwaukee, and Rockford as well as suburban and rural libraries in this region.
In my opinion, the trade associations are reporting an ideal world for publishers, not the real world as it exists for libraries. I’m not aware of a single library for which this assessment is accurate.
I wondered what a librarian would say, so I just walked over the next block to our library to talk to one of our librarians. I wanted to see her face when she heard that the CPSC thinks that the average children’s book is retained in a library collection for three years.
“Three years? Not in any library that I’m aware of! That’s probably about accurate for modern adult fiction, but not for any other area in the library, especially not children’s books.”
If the CPSC is very interested in how a permanent date cut-off in the 70’s or 80’s would work for public libraries, they really ought to talk to lots of them and not forget to ask small libraries in rural and other less prosperous areas.
A date cut-off that would really create minimal havoc for children’s libraries would actually be somewhere around 1950 or so. With few exceptions, only the smallest and least prosperous libraries still have a few pre-1950 children’s books on their shelves.
I know quite a few libraries that still have substantial numbers (hundreds, even thousands) of books published in the 1950’s, and many more have told me that they would have kept many more of these older books if not for lack of space.
Esther said,
I ran the numbers for my small library. It would devastate our children’s section. I estimated about 10,000 out of 12,000 would be printed/copyrighted pre-1985. In some cases it would be impossible to tell, so to be ultra careful, we would have to pull more than necessary. It would wipe out the video collection and audio books too.
Sebastian (a lady) said,
I have two precocious readers (as the Chinaberry catalog calls them). They are able to read books at high reading levels but aren’t ready for much of the material that fills books written at their reading level.
So for me, it is essential that we maintain access to a wide spectrum of older books. Within these covers I can find well written, richly plotted stories to fill my kids’ hunger for books.
If these stories are suddenly made unavailable and only what is recent, in print or commercially viable to reprint is left, we will have quite a struggle. I will be left trying to fit adult books to my children’s 4th and 5th grade maturity level. This is a scheme that is in its own way as risky as putting a child on an adult sized ATV.
BTW, I totally agree with your librarian. Three years is probably how long a Harry Potter or another best seller lasts before it has been ground down. But this is a standard for books that don’t spend time resting on shelves. In fact, this is what the book rental programs for libraries are made for. High demand books that stay in the library circulation for a couple years until the demand drops off.
It would be interesting to see comparisons of circulation numbers, say how many checkouts are these high demand books vs. all the other books in the library. I appreciate both types of books. But the older, out of print books do represent a resource that I can’t easily obtain from somewhere else.
Sebastian (a lady) said,
BTW, there should be a subtle soundtrack to this post. Something along the lines of “I don’t like old things. I want new things.” repeated over and over.
Elysabeth said,
i asked my librarian what they were doing with the new regulations set by CPSIA and CPSC’s interpretation of them and she looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. I told her I was surprised that they didn’t know anything about it since ALA was heavy on the heels of PW and others fighting for exemptions. We have a very small library and if we house 1000 copies of all things total, I’d be very surprised. Of course we are a branch of the county library system and we do have 7 or 8 other branches throughout the county but save the main library, the rest are small and don’t have the resources to get new books every three years. I’ll have to ask them when I go in Monday probably, just to get an idea of what the shelf life of books is in our library. I’ll keep you posted.
———–
Elysabeth Eldering
Author of the Junior Geography Detective Squad (JGDS), 50-state, mystery, trivia series
STATE OF WILDERNESS, Book 1 of 50 now available.
STATE OF QUARRIES, book 2 of 50 coming spring 2009
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happymom4 said,
Valerie, please keep on–don’t get weary in well doing.
Also, if you want some “fodder”, check out this link http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/031309dnmetwfaainflatables.2f5a34a9.html
and note the reports of HOW many deaths and HOW many documented injuries in ONE YEAR from something that is nice, but not essential for kids . . . And then they want to get rid of our books?!
CPSIA developments; posting lull said,
[...] from back in the spring but not linked then — Assistant Village Idiot, Carter Wood, and Valerie Jacobsen as well as [...]
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