What do we have here? I’ll tell you what: approximately 70 years of bound American Heritage magazines. Each book is one year of issues. The last 20-ish years were individual monthly issues.
These have been living in the reference collection at my library, gathering dust since who knows when. I’ve worked there for 12 years and they were already dusty then.
Vaccination – The Silent Killer: A Clear And Present Danger
McBean and Honorof
1977
Submitter: I am wondering if other libraries are receiving donations like this. We have seen an influx of anti-vax books either emailed or dumped into our dropbox. This one is pretty scary!
Holly: I mean, come on, it’s 44 years old! Even if balance of viewpoints is important in your library, this is not the one. It’s missing 44 years of data that anyone would need to make their argument, whatever that might be. And (looks pointedly over my bifocals) let’s stick to a collection development discussion in the comments, please…
Easy-to-Make Puppets
Stockwell
1973
Submitter: Easy To Make Puppets allows you to make…
Holly: The disembodied head on the cover ought to give Mary sweet dreams. And if that doesn’t do it, the double-whammy clown puppet in the last image below will for sure. (You’re welcome!)
Mary: It’s part of my trifecta of evil: puppets, clowns, and mimes. Make it STOP!
Digital libraries
Balasubramanian
2021
Submitter: I was excited to see this book at my local public library. I always like learning more about what other libraries are doing in the way of digital libraries. This book is a joke! Just take a look at the scanning section. Not to mention the pixelated HTML screenshots. Sad…
Holly: Apparently Ess Ess Publications is a publisher of library science materials in India. I don’t know where Submitter’s library is located, and I don’t know how useful this would be to libraries in India. I was surprised at the publication date, though, and those screen shots on the example pages (below) are impossible to read. Not your best choice on the subject here in the U.S.!
The Jewish Celebrity Hall of Fame
Boxer
1987
Submitter: This book and its humor is very old and it needs to go. Not sure a book today could keep up with the many Jewish celebrities that exist thanks to just social media alone.
Holly: Sure, but were they ever featured on stamps?
Making Your Garden Bush Friendly: How to Recognise and Control Garden Plants which Invade Sydney’s Bushland
McLoughlin
1993
Submitter: We are an academic library serving a landscape program. While right-sizing the collection this week, I found this unfortunate processing fail. For the record, the barcode is covering the word Garden.
Holly: (Snort!)
Slavery Defended: The Views of the Old South
McKitrick (Ed.)
1963
Submitter: We are going through a massive weeding project at our small academic library, and this title came up (thankfully in the titles to be weeded!). Now, granted, I wasn’t alive in the 1960s, but I would have hoped a title like this would have been problematic even then. The judgment call in the title is completely unnecessary – the collection of essays could easily have been called Views of Slavery in the Old South and conveyed the same information. Now, however, the phrasing of the title is not merely problematic but downright offensive, particularly to our students and faculty of color. I’m glad we’re getting it out of the building! As for the content, someone actually wrote an epic-length poem called “The Hireling and the Slave”, which is excerpted (my mind is still blown that 11 pages is just an excerpt) in this volume. I scanned a sample.
Holly: It may have value to historical researchers, but the title is definitely pretty awful!
Indian Summer
Monjo
1968
Submitter: This 50 year old beginning reader book is a woefully one-sided history lesson about Kentucky settlers vs. The Indians. While Pa is off to “lick the British” with the likes of George Washington, Ma is left behind with her rifle to defend her children and their cabin from Indian attack. The story features stereotypical Indian illustrations, and atrocious language such as “redskins” and the children fearing they’ll be “scalped.” This was one of the original items owned in our children’s collection, and it last circulated in 2017, I’m sad to say. When I noticed the faded cover and yellowed pages, then discovered the terribly racist historical fiction within this book, I weeded it quickly. For fun, note the old fashioned “wash your hands” sticker we used to put in the front cover of children’s books at our library. It’s the best and most relevant part of this book!
Holly: Public libraries are not the place for this kind of thing anymore! Pass it on to a museum or archive…or wherever you’re putting your Little House on the Prairie books.
