On: When will librarians start to throw offline litera...

[_wldu]

Would there be an archive of the original books stored somewhere like the seed vault in Norway? It seems having one would be a good thing.

[moksha256 → _wldu]

I believe that's the purpose of the Harvard Depository:

http://library.harvard.edu/access-services-2/depository

[geographomics → moksha256]

Similarly in the UK: http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/legaldeposit/printedpubs/depositpri...

[sciurus → _wldu]

Many libraries already purge books that aren't online, as long as they can borrow the book from another library if a patron requests it.

[grendelt → sciurus]

So if all libraries adopt the mentality "well, someone else will have it", then who will actually have it?

Also, HN folks, the system of InterLibrary Loans is shockingly driven by manually searching other libraries. There's no system that allows you to automatically find books from other libraries based on metrics of cost of postage or physical distance. Some enterprising HN reader should work on a better ILL system that libraries don't know they need.

[gohrt → grendelt]

https://www.worldcat.org/title/learning-perl/oclc/42854427&r...