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Comment by allturtles | Hacker News Reader

I don't care for the name or the attitude. It's surprising to me that librarians would be so snarky about books. Many of these books indeed don't belong in small community library collections because they are outdated and no longer useful to most patrons (they would probably be of interest to historians or other academics). That doesn't make them 'awful.'

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> Many of these books indeed don't belong in small community library collections because they are outdated and no longer useful to most patrons (they would probably be of interest to historians or other academics). That doesn't make them 'awful.'

Honestly I wouldn't limit it to "historians or other academics." I'd think having a collection immaculately-curated for the present day sensibilities would create/reinforce a false impression that the present is timeless. I think it's good to come into contact with everyday things the reflect the recent past, even if it's just to get a sense of motion. And (realistically) the only place where that might be possible with books is a community library.

There's nothing quite like a bunch of outdated "how to" books to make you appreciate today's state of knowledge!

I shudder at the notion of calling any library patron (who is looking for a book to read) "not an academic". In this country you don't need a license to learn.

They meant professional academics. People who are paid full-time to produce research.

People like this don't realize that it's their own epitaph they're writing. They're creating a community that disdains the fairly recent past, with the result that they'll be disdained in the fairly near future.

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