THE AFTERLIFE OF BOOKS

By SHAGORIKA EASWAR

Each year, 640,000 tons of books end up in landfills (according to the National Wildlife Federation).

Ad guru and award-winning fine art photographer Brian Belefant was inspired to write The Sultan of Garbage (Atmosphere Press), a book about a disillusioned middle-aged man who becomes obsessed with trash and hatches a daring plan to escape his clutter.

While I am increasingly aware of the need to declutter, I’m not quite there yet! My new and firm-ish rule about not accumulating any more “stuff” doesn’t apply to books.

I believe that there’s no such thing as too many books. Or plants, for that matter. But of course there is. Even a woman who wants more books (and plants!) will eventually run out of space.

She can only add bookshelves until she runs out of walls. At which point, books can spill over into sons’ rooms.

I was at that point many years ago, sneaking Grishams (boy, there are many!) and Crichtons and sundry other authors I told myself our younger son wouldn’t be embarrassed by when his friends came over.

He grumbled, periodically threatening to reclaim his space until I spotted Malcolm Gladwell, Haruki Murakami and Ta Nehisi Coates that he’d begun adding as his reading expanded and he explored more genres. And thus a truce was reached.

Until the shelf exploded. Quite literally so. We got another. And while we were at it, we picked up two of those slim vertical ones in which books look like have been stacked one on top of another in a pile that will topple any day, but of course it doesn’t. Hopefully, it won’t explode, either.

But even with all the creative arranging of books, I had to face the fact that I can’t possibly fit in anymore unless I make some room.

I am aware the solution might lie in e-books. But then I belong to the tribe for whom the tactile pleasure of holding a book is part of the experience.

So we sifted through our collection. My husband would pull out a couple of copies reluctantly. I’d put one back. The process would repeat itself with books I pulled out and he placed back on the shelves. But finally, we had large piles of books we felt it was time to let go of for others to enjoy.

We dropped off some at a shelter, some at Goodwill Stores and the Reading Pod in Newmarket. The danger in the last, of course, is that it’s hard to walk past books others have dropped off without picking up one. Or two.

I dropped some off for a neighbour who was holding a garage sale to raise funds for a cause. I went across the morning of the sale to help and spent a fun couple of hours chatting with those who stopped by. I noticed a man who stood aside with a dog while his wife checked out the items. He looked uninterested in the proceedings and was obviously just waiting for her to be done so they could continue their walk. Then he spotted the pile of books on a table and inched closer. The recipe books weren’t a draw. Nor were the children’s books or books by well-known authors. He was interested in the small pile of books on poetry. Among them, one of Yeats’ poems. He picked up the slim volume, flipped through the pages and then added it to the pile his wife had made of the things she wanted.

“Oh, that’s lovely, hon,” she said with a sweet smile. “You can read aloud from it this evening.”

I watched them walking away, happy in the knowledge that the book had found a good home.

And so the process of culling and making room continues. But I still have more books than I have room for. What’s woman to do?

Bring in the cavalry! Ask the experts!

I spoke to the good folks at Brampton Library about how they manage their vast collection. I know libraries periodically remove books from their shelves – I have several books stamped discard that I picked up for a buck or two – but how do they decide which ones to keep and which ones are cut from the catalogue? What do they do with the ones they wish to discard if no one buys them?

Brent Wilson, Manager of Collections, Brampton Library, was happy to answer my questions.

“Our aim with our collection is to serve customers by providing a broad choice of materials to meet their informational, educational, cultural, and recreational needs. We also prioritize establishing a balanced collection which adequately represents various points of view on a subject. Considering our finite shelving space, we must also deselect materials as part of our ongoing collection maintenance. We approach this task with great care and consideration. In line with our collection maintenance policy, materials are withdrawn when they are outdated, worn, redundant, overstocked, seldom used, or newer editions are made available.

“The deselection of library materials is an essential and on-going process that helps us maintain a relevant, accessible, and high-quality collection for our diverse community. There are several options that we utilize for materials that end up being removed from the collection. Firstly, we look to make items available for the book sale. If those items are not purchased, we then look to donate items to local organizations, agencies, schools or rural libraries for extended use. Otherwise books are disposed of.”

Wilson said he’d refrain from identifying specific titles that have been de-selected recently as all genres and audience levels have titles in the collection that are periodically removed in order to create room on the shelves for new material and to ensure that their collection management strategy is followed.

“However, all of the books you will see at upcoming book sales or that you have already bought from sales in the past, are titles that have been removed from the collection.”

Meanwhile, our older son showed up with bins of books our grandson has outgrown. 

Asked if he wanted to donate them, he had set aside a few, and then, pointing to the massive pile that was left, said, “I want to keep these for my family.”

Mission accomplished!

We have books from our parents, and will find room for ones that the littlest member of the family wants to hold on to.