Sunday, 20 May 2012

There was library cull

yesterday. Sigh. I had to do it. I always feel guilty getting rid of books.
I am the librarian for our knitting guild. (Naturally, who else would do it?) The library is stored in a large steel cupboard - bought secondhand from the "Public Buildings Department". One of our members is the wife of the man who once ran that department and he arranged this. The cupboard is good and sturdy. It is lockable. It can store quite a lot of material. It cannot store all of it. Space was becoming ridiculously short.
As we have the biennial exhibition coming up next weekend I suggested we remove some material and put it out for sale. It may raise a tiny amount of money. It will not be much.
I obtained the services of the one other guild member who knows a good deal about books and we went through the books. We removed some old fashioned pattern books - 1978 is ancient history in knitting terms. The sort of yarn you used to make things back then is not available now. The fit is different. The designs look ridiculous or quaint - or should that be Quant?
We also removed all the knitting magazines more than five years old. There were two big piles. They were put into the boot of someone's car ready to take to the hall in which the exhibition will be held.
Most people did not even notice we were doing it. They will probably not even be aware that the material has gone. By no means everyone actually uses the library. They buy a pattern. They knit the garment exactly as the pattern says. They go on to the next garment in the same way. I do not use patterns. I use books to give me ideas. There are a number of other people who do similar things. We keep working on the rest of the members in the hope of stretching their comfort zone and their satisfaction with their craft.
One member however was indignant. She came striding across.
          "Just what do you think you are doing?"
I explained  - or I began to explain. She stopped me.
          "How dare you? Have you got permission to do this? It should have been a decision of all the members."
She carried on like this for some moments. I went on working and so did the person helping me. We pulled out another book. Even worse.
         "I donated that to the library!"
         "Would you like to have it back?" I asked her. She snatched it.
We added another book to the pile.
         "Don't you want that either? If you don't want it then I'll have it."
         "Well you had best ask the Treasurer how much she wants to charge for it," I told her.
         "You're not going to charge for them are you?"
         "Well yes, that was the general idea."
         "But you are throwing them out. They aren't worth anything."
Thankfully at that point her mobile 'phone rang and she had to leave. I looked sadly at the pile of books. They are still worth something to someone.

1 comment:

jeanfromcornwall said...

Nobody wants them. I want them, but only if they are free.
Surely the point is to make a little money for the group. Would she rather make a donation? Oh, sorry, I forgot, she already had - a book that she only wanted back if it was free. So that will be a no.
There is a lot of adolescent reasoning in this incident.