Check it out!

Have you ever seen a book on a library shelf and thought: "that looks interesting" or "I love that book, I'm glad they have a copy here"? Did you then check it out? If not, you may not see it the next time you come into the library.

If you want a library to keep a book, you need to check it out.

It's a myth that libraries keep everything. It's not even remotely physically possible (no library has that much space), and studies have proven that the more books a library has on the shelf the less likely people are to find what they want.

So, librarians regularly go through the collection to find books that aren't being used. We get rid of these books to make way for new ones - it's called "weeding". If we can, we try to find a new home for the books. If we can't, we rip off the covers and throw them in the bin (kind of like a vet putting down a dog that can't be saved).

When it comes to academic libraries, there can be a lot of rules in place about what we can and can't do with weeded books. While a public library can sell the books they've weeded, an academic library can only give them to certain people. If those people don't want the books, then we have to destroy them.

It's unpleasant, but it's a fact of life. We can't keep getting new books without getting rid of the older ones, and the best method we have for deciding what books we keep and what books we weed is:

"How often has that book been checked out in the last few years?"

Yes, we know a lot of books are read and used in the library without being checked out, but we can't track that. And, yes, we know some books are important for historical reasons and should be kept - but we don't always know those reasons. So, if a book hasn't been checked out for the last five years and is fifteen or twenty years old...

Do you know who has the power to save the books and make sure they stay on the shelves? You.

If you see a book and you think the library should keep it, you can do one very simple thing to help ensure its survival: check it out.

Heck, you don't even have to take it home. You can check it out and put it straight in the returns chute if you want to. That would be weird (you may as well take it home and enjoy it for a couple of weeks), but useful. It gives us a record for that book - it tells us it is being used and that people still want it.

So the next time you are in a library (any library) and you see a book that looks interesting, or is a personal favourite, why not check it out? It can make a real difference to the book's survival.