Monday, December 03, 2007

My Head Explodes

A small Michigan village library has to dispose of its entire collection.

Let's get this straight, people: when your library doesn't have heat or plumbing, or a roof that doesn't leak, but does have an active population of squirrels and rodents eating and shitting on the books, you don't have a library. You have a stash of rotting paper.

I can't stand it when people fetishize books, and I love books. But I also realize that there's a line where books are simply unusable due to age and condition, and this library crossed that line a long time ago. Books are good, but they are not holy relics. They are replaceable. They are also temporary--the acidic nature of paper ensures that your books have a limited lifespan from the moment they arrive from the printer.

Just because it's print on a page doesn't mean it has value. Don't confuse knowledge with its package.

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