Turning old books into new revenue

Library of Michigan wraps up its sale of 75,000 out-of-circulation volumes

Posted

 

 

You won’t hear the bang of an auctioneer’s gavel, butwhen bidding closes online this week for the final lots of books beingauctioned off at the Library of Michigan it will signal an end of anera.

Since midsummer, the Library of Michigan has been sellingmore than 75,000 books that were no longer deemed essential for librarycollections at the state’s online auction site (mibid.bidcorp.com). Thebooks were part of what was once the Dewey Collection; some of thebooks date back to the late 19th century.

Early in its history the Library of Michigan collectedbooks within broad categories of topics and circulated them in woodentraveling boxes across the state, especially in areas where there wereno libraries. The books in the collection were categorized under theDewey Decimal System, named for Melvil Dewey, who created theclassifications in 1876. The system sorted books by 10 classes, then 10divisions and finally 10 sections ranging from religion to travel — youname it. 

In 1987 when the Library of Michigan converted to theLibrary of Congress system, the original Dewey books were never rolledinto the new system. In essence, they became a shrine to the Deweysystem and were seldom touched.

Donald Todaro, who has overseen the auction as assistantdirector of the state library, said in the last several decades thecollection saw little or no use, even though the books occupied nearlyhalf of the fourth floor of the Library of Michigan.

When former Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s administration waslooking for ways to save money it determined the library was an easytarget. Ultimately, the library was hit with more than $1 million incuts. It was able to maintain its Michigan and Genealogy collectionswhile pretty much everything else was determined to be expendable,including staff: The library once had more than 130 employees, but thatdropped to 32. 

Since late summer the library has soldoff books ranging from “Who Put the Bomb in Father Murphy’s Chowder” tobooks on the nation’s rocket program. The books were auctioned off byascending Dewey classification numbers, and the final Dewey category,the 900s, was put on the auction block last week, along with someAmerican, German and French literature. The 900 class covers geography,history and biography.

But Todaro said the likelihood offinding any rare books is, well, rare since the collection was firstculled for books pertaining to Michigan and then for books that couldbe transferred into the Rare Book Collection. In addition, librariesacross the state were asked to take any books they wished for theircollections. As an example, Eastern Michigan University recently pulledthe architecture books for its historic preservation program.

Todaro said the auction has generatedapproximately $15,000 in revenue and has turned out to be an easy wayto dispose of books since the winning bidder has to haul them away. Hesaid the money will be used to supplement the current budget.

According to Todaro, the majority ofbooks were sold to book dealers that had the ability to handle largequantities. For example, the biography lot of nearly 9,000 booksoffered in the most recent sale could take upwards of 350 boxes and apretty spacious truck to move.

Most of the books were sold in the range of 50 cents to $1 per book, according to Todaro.

Ray Walsh, proprietor of Curious BookShop in East Lansing, was the winning bidder of the Dewey categoryGreek literature, consisting of approximately 476 books. I talked withhim as he began filling 20 boxes with books. 

He said he has seen some of the books sold at the earlier auctions turn up in local antique markets.

“The library should be commended for disposing of thesebooks under the circumstances,” Walsh said. “They’d run out of moneyand out of space and hadn’t been buying for the collection for sometime.”

Walsh said the size of some of the lots precluded him from bidding on them: “We just couldn’t handle that many books.”

Walsh said libraries have always practiced deaccessionand still do, selling unwanted volumes at periodic book sales; theCapital Area District Library sells at its Friends of the Librarybookstores, and Okemos Library has a book sale set for Nov.19 at theMeridian Senior Center. 

That has not always been the case. Walsh rememberswatching a library toss books into a Dumpster 25 years ago. He said hewas able to rescue bound copies of periodicals from the 1800s.

Todaro said once the area on the fourthfloor is totally cleaned out that a decision will be made on what to dowith the space. Ideas range from creating a Michigan reading area togiving more space to crowed sections in other parts of the library.

“As a librarian, it’s bittersweet seeingthe materials go,” Todaro said, but then again, there hasn’t been anydemand for these materials.

One book that has languished in the lot of the Africasection is “The Journals of Major-General C.B. Gordon at Kartoum,”published in 1885. Two copies of the title are advertised on Amazon at$30 and $45. It’s likely another one will join them soon

Some of the more interesting collectibles might be thewatermarked books that survived a fire in what is now the Lewis CassBuilding. They were rebound in standard library bindings, and manyinclude a sticker that reads: "Damaged in State Office Building FireFebruary, 1951."

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here




Connect with us