Microwave Cooking from Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Company
1971
Submitter: Come see the scary side of Sears… Not sure if that’s regular wear and tear on the cover, or food stains. Either Way – this one has now been liquidated from our collection.
Holly: I can tell you what I’m NOT having for dinner tonight: “Saucy Wieners.” Recipe is below if you’re into that sort of thing.
Macramé Hangers for Small Spaces
Craft Course Publishers, Inc.
1975
Submission: I found this crafty little book hiding in our stacks recently. My family’s first apartment in the 80’s had the same wallpaper as page 13.
Holly: You know, the house I grew up in had similar wallpaper in our kitchen! We also had the macrame hanger.
Mary: I got a similar wall hanging (pg. 7) for a wedding present. I re-gifted it to a friend, and she did similar. I am sure it is in a landfill, where it belongs.
Supermarket
Baugh
1965/1970
Submitter: While I give this cute book props for having a diverse cast of kids, the book is rather old, and the spine is gone. Time to find something new.
Holly: It’s definitely old! 19 cents a pound for whatever it is those kids are looking at (3rd picture below)? Are those coconuts??
Creative Arts with Older Adults: A Sourcebook
Weisberg and Wilder, Eds.
1985
Submitter: Found in the stack of this public library – It’s not truly awful, but it is old and uninspiring. The photos are poor and the image/printing quality is terrible if you’re BIPOC. I also think we have moved away from the term Geriatric.
Holly: Sometimes books like these can be downright condescending, when older adults may well be master artists. I do understand that physical conditions related to aging can affect one’s ability to make creative arts, even if they had high-level skills at any point in their lives. However, the first page below suggests making everyone aware of everyone else’s disabilities so that they’re all sensitive to each others’ needs – which is something I would NEVER do.
Your Oric
Hartnell and Shaw
1983
Submitter: This gem comes from 1983 and it’s great to know what type of technology this library was using when I was just 3 years old. Unlike the Oric 1 that I am sure was replaced 35 years ago, this book seemed to dodge that fate until today.
Holly: What the heck is an Oric?
(Which is exactly the point…your patrons don’t know or care either!)
Women’s Health Today 2001: The Latest Breakthroughs for the Female Body
Prevention
2001
Submitter: This may not be horrible, but at 20 years it’s definitely past its prime. Not being a woman myself, some of the information looked questionable and so I asked my young work-study what she thought. She asked me who Debbie Reynolds is. Sigh… Now the gray hairs in my temples feel so much more prominent.
Holly: And, of course, half the book is about weight loss, age-proofing, and belly-flattening.
Millennials in America
Scardamalia
2017
Submitter: I found this book (clearly discarded) in our returns this morning. My (millennial) coworker exclaimed that it had been on the “free books, please take them” cart in the lobby earlier this week. She had picked it up thinking maybe it would be funny, but thought better about lugging home an outdated textbook. Apparently a library patron did take it home, but found it so unamusing that they promptly gave it back. I put it back in the discards area. I almost threw it away, but I guess I’m glad I didn’t. Our Friends of the Library group is actually starting to collect discards for book sales again now, and I looked this book up, and it is still for sale for $100.00.
Holly: This isn’t bad for an academic library, but a bit of a snoozefest for a public library collection.
Come to See the Clowns
Tensen
1963
Submitter: I am submitting this sad clown book – more for its condition than anything else. – Come To See The Clowns – Leave with nightmares….
Holly: Kinda cute, actually, as clown books go, but yeah – it’s seen better days!
Mary: I need to reiterate that clowns are evil. That said, this might be the least obnoxious of our clown book inventory.
